Stay Away from Poison Ivy
by MusicNeverStops474
Summary: A new villain is trying to convince Tobey to join in a plan that could very well mean the end of the city's peace and possibly WordGirl's life. Will he choose his loyalty to the villains or to his heart?
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Hey guys! So I discontinued my other "They met in high school" story because I kind of ran out of inspiration for it. (Although, who knows, I might look at it again someday and decide to keep writing.) So, today while I was home sick I was weaving through my old documents and I came across this one that I worte a little while ago. I had stopped writing it because I didn't feel that it was going anywhere but when I re-read it today I got some new ideas so I decided to post it while I work on the next chapter. Please keep in mind that I wrote this a pretty long time ago, so go easy on me.**

**Also, I created a new villain for this story and named her after a villain in Batman "Poison Ivy"; I used about the same physical features but I changed her powers a bit. **

**Hope you like the story! Please read and review!**

**Disclaimer/ I don't own any WordGirl characters.**

Chapter 1

Villain conventions were definitely not the most exciting events to be attending, contrary to popular belief. People always believed them to have top secret meetings, high scale entertainment, and take place in secret hideouts. Well, our 'secret' hideout was merely a rundown motel on the far side of town. The 'top secret meetings' included reviewing ever single crime committed (which by itself took an hour or two) and some new techniques, that never worked, against Word Girl.

These conventions were especially dull for me as I didn't exactly commit any any major crimes, well, at least not major to the other senior villains and they were next to never mentioned. I had been a villain for approximately four years, starting when I was 9 years old. For my 7th birthday, Mum gave me my first robotics kit and I had become fascinated with robots and could now built 50-foot tall metal giants with no struggle at all.

But even with my amazing talent, I still had next to no respect amongst the villains, or anywhere else for that matter. The only villain I could ever really talk to was Dr. Two Brains and that was because he was only one who could actually the possibilities of my gift. And so that is where I found himself now, seated at yet another villain's convention next to Dr. Two Brains, listening to Granny May as she rambled on about the crimes committed. I settled myself down on my chair and prepared to most likely fall asleep when a gloved finger tapped me on the shoulder. I turned my head to meet the piercing gaze of Poison Ivy (the newest villain who had joined a few weeks back) motioning for me to follow her. I turned my gaze back to Dr. Two Brains who was occupied with a piece of Swiss cheese, then silently left my chair and Granny May's ramblings behind.

The lights were dim because of the spotlight on Granny May and I could only make out the outline of Poison Ivy as she led me out of the main hall into the twisting corridors. She moved so swiftly and silently, I had a difficult time keeping up but before long, she grasped my arm firmly and pulled me into an abandoned motel room. The lights were switched on and I blinked to adjust to the bright atmosphere before turning my attention to Poison Ivy who sat at the worn out table. She was probably only a little taller than me even though she was 18 years old and she had flaming red hair that fell to her hips. Her piercing green eyes could easily hypnotize someone and were her main weapon for distracting people. Why she had brought me here was a complete mystery to me.

"Come over and sit, Tobey," she whispered, patting the seat beside her.

The intense way she was staring at me made me feel the tad bit nervous but I strode over and sat down on the creaking chair all the same. My blue eyes met her green ones as I asked, "So, what's the meaning of this little meeting, Poison Ivy?"

To my surprise, she let out a girlish giggle and said back, "Have I ever told you how adorable your accent is, Tobey?"

Confused and blushing, I stumbled as I answered, "W-well, um, thanks. But y-you didn't really answer my question. Do you-you need something?"

"Oh, come now Tobey, do I have to have a reason to want to spend time with the smartest villain in the city? Not to mention the cutest." She asked, winking at me and making my face turn a deeper shade of pink.

My mind was reeling as I struggled to find something to say back. Why was she saying all these flattering things now? She was 5 years older than me and had never spoken to me before, except for an occasional greeting. Before I could contemplate about that more, she reached up and brushed my cheek with her green gloved hand sending a shiver coursing through my body.

My thoughts were lost for a moment while she scooted closer and started caressing my face with one hand and with the other, playing with my hair. I was powerless to stop the shivers racing through my body and I felt myself slipping into the state in between being conscious and unconscious.

After a few minutes of this pleasurable treatment, she leaned in close to my ear and began whispering to me in a soft voice, "A friend of mine and I are planning a little project and we're in need of your incredible talents."

That woke my brain up the slightest bit; I knew there was an ulterior motive to this meeting. But at the same time, I was curious as to what she might be planning, "What kind of project?" I meant for it to come out as a bold question but then she stroked my cheek again and it came out in more of a cross between a whisper and whimper.

"We have a plan to finally capture this city and rule it without interference. But we'll need your robot assistance in order to do it and since you're obviously the only intelligent enough villain here to pull it off…"

The words "_without interference"_ stuck in my mind for a moment as I realized what that meant; the only interference to their plan would be the one superhero in this town. She must have caught my change in expression because she continued talking, her warm breath in my ear, "Getting rid of that stupid superhero, what's her name? Ah, whatever, getting rid of her will be no problem as long as we have your incredible army to help us."

Now I was really awake and my mind had millions of thoughts reeling through but I managed to keep my face neutral. She was planning to kill Word Girl, using my robots! I couldn't let her do that! I couldn't think of anything to say back because, obviously, she was expecting my answer. I was beginning to get scared; if I didn't answer yes, to what lengths would she go to get me to agree? I certainly couldn't withstand the powers of her hypnotizing. Heck, I couldn't even withstand Victoria's hypnotizing powers! What chance did I have against Poison Ivy?

Suddenly, he heard clapping from the main hall, signalling the end of Granny May's wrap up so he whispered to Poison Ivy, "I have to get back, Doc will be wondering where I've gone. Can we talk again tomorrow?"

Apparently, Poison Ivy wanted to keep up her façade as an admirer so she nodded and withdrew herself back to her seat. And just when I thought I could leave, she took my arm once more, leaned forward, and planted a soft kiss on my cheek before standing and waltzing out the room, her fiery hair swinging back and forth.

I let out a loud sigh and slumped back in my chair, waiting a few moments before heading back out after her.

When I returned to my seat, Doc turned to me and whispered, "Where'd you go Tobey? You missed your afternoon nap."

I could see his obvious attempt at humour so I forced out a weak laugh and luckily he had pulled out another piece of cheese so he didn't notice. As the entertainment part of the convention began, I slipped away, saying only a quick good bye to Doc, and walked home contemplating my next move.

It was obvious I couldn't very well agree to what Poison Ivy had offered, I wasn't a murderer. I'd never wanted to hurt anyone, _ever,_ no matter how many times I'd destroyed buildings. I never meant to injure anyone. I didn't even want control over the city! Where's the fun in having everything at your fingertips and never having to work? Being defeated by Word Girl was the one thing that motivated me to continue renovating and improving my robots.

As soon as the name Word Girl passed through my mind, I began feeling sick to my stomach again, thinking of what Poison Ivy wanted me to do. How could I help, or even kill myself, the one girl I'd ever admired? The answer was; I couldn't. I just couldn't, no matter how hard Poison Ivy tried to hypnotize me. But at the same time, if I won't do it, she might just do it herself.

I let out a frustrated yell; it was just too complicated, I couldn't figure out a plan by myself. I decided I didn't need the whole plan as long as I knew my first move; that being that I tell Word Girl of Poison Ivy's offer. But how to get Word Girl out at 8:00 at night? I didn't want to start wrecking havoc at this time, but how else would I find her?

Right at that moment, I looked up at the house I was passing, the Botsford home. My mind went into the full is-she-or-is-she-not-Word Girl mode and I decided to take my chances. As I walked up, my hands began to shake the slightest bit but I shook it off, this was no time to be getting cold feet. I knocked firmly on the door several times and was soon greeted with the smiling face of Becky's mom.

"Why, Tobey! What are you doing here this late?" She asked, checking behind me for any robots.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and answered, "I'm here to see Becky, we have a school project due tomorrow and I just wanted to go over one of the parts with her. I hope it's not too late."

"Oh, not at all. She's in her room right now doing something or other. I'll get her to come down, just a minute," she replied calling up to Becky to come down.

I hoped with all my might that Becky would simply go along with my little disguise of school project. She paraded down the stairs dressed in her pyjamas, plaid pants and a dark green t-shirt. Her eyes widened when she saw me but before she could ask anything, I asked in a rush, "Hello Becky, I just wanted to go over our project for tomorrow, I'm sorry I took you off guard. Maybe we could practice in the yard?"

I was well aware that she knew there was no such project for tomorrow but I put on a pleading look and she followed me outside cautiously. Once the door shut and we could talk privately, she immediately demanded, "Okay, what are you doing here Tobey? We don't have a project due tomorrow. Are you just here to try and crush my house again or is it something else?"

I waved for her to calm down then decided to cut right to the chase and answered, "Actually, I'm here because your life is in danger Becky."

Well, that certainly changed her expression. She went from being furious to being frozen in shock. Eventually though she shook it off and asked, "What on earth are you talking about Tobey? Who would want to kill me? I'm just plain, simple, ordinary Becky!"

"Well, that's the point Becky. They aren't after plain Becky, they're after Word Girl."

I watched as this information sank into her and she stood, unable to move, for a moment until she started rambling, "Well, why are you telling me this 'cause I'm not Word Girl, I'm just Becky. And Word Girl is like a superhero but I'm definitely not her and-"

Holding up a hand for her to stop, I said bravely, "I know that you're Word Girl Becky, and really this is not the time for you to be putting up a fight about it. You're in real danger, I'm not making this up, and the only way you can avoid it is if you listen to me. Okay?"

She looked as if she wanted to argue some more but gave in and just nodded her consent. I felt relieved; I had been right all along about her identity, but it was no time to glorify myself in that now. I continued talking, "There's a new villain in town, her name's Poison Ivy and she's intent on taking over the city, without interference," I could see her process the meaning of those words as I had earlier. "Her power is her eyes, she can hypnotize people with them and she can control plants, hence the name Poison Ivy. She's about 18 years old, red hair that goes to her hips, green eyes, and she wants me to help her and her friend to take over the city and-" I took a deep breath before continuing in a small voice, "and eliminate their only threat, you."

Her face had taken on a stoic expression as she thought this all over. It seemed like an eternity before she spoke again in a hard voice, "Why are you telling me this? You're a villain, aren't you? Shouldn't you be helping out on the plan?"

I winced as the words made contact; she thought I was just like them. Just another power-hungry villain who didn't care the slightest bit about who was destroyed in the playing out of their plan. She thought I was a monster.

I struggled to find the right words as I replied softly, "I-I just wanted to try and help you. I don't want to see anyone hurt…especially you."

She had turned away from me when she asked, "So, what are you going to do?"

I felt confused. What did she mean, 'what was I going to do?' Before I could answer she continued, "You do realize the fate of this entire city is resting in your hands. Your decision determines whether or not this city will remain peaceful." She turned to face me. "So, what's it going to be Tobey?"

"Do you actually have to ask me?" I asked, it coming out louder than I'd intended but I could feel anger bubbling inside me, "You think that I _want_ this city to be ruled by vicious villains? You think I want to murder you? What kind of a person do you think I am?! Sure, I've done my fair share of destruction but I've never tried to hurt anyone intentionally! I've never tried to steal anything, take over the city, or kidnap anyone! Have you ever stopped to think that maybe the only reason I'm with the villains is because they're the only people who'll accept me for who I am?"

All my anger and frustration from the past years came out as I ranted the thoughts I'd thought for so long. I was panting slightly by the end of it and I was still furious until I felt a slight weight on my shoulder. Shocked, I looked down and saw Becky's hand resting there, a sad smile on her lips. She rubbed my shoulder gently as she replied, "I admit I've never really stopped to think about your situation with them Tobey and for that I apologize but right now, it's time for us to make a plan."


	2. Trust

**Author's note: ****So here's the next chapter, it's really an action packed chapter but the next most likely will be. Thanks to everyone who reviewed my first chapter, I hope this one's not too boring for you. And i'm working on the next chapter right now so hopefully it'll be up sometime this week. Hope you like!**

**Disclaimer/ Haven't we already been through this? Okay fine, _I do not own Word girl_**

Lucky for me, tonight was one of the nights where Mum got home well past 10:00pm. I used to be forced to endure an irritating babysitter on those days but when I'd finally turned 13 she'd agreed to trust me to go to bed at the proper time. I felt guilt wash over me as I remembered that particular conversation…

"_But Mum! I don't need a sitter anymore! I'm old enough to take care of myself!"_

_She looked at me with weary eyes, this not being the first time this argument arose, and slowly stood up from her easy chair to tower over me, us both on opposite sides of the coffee table. Sighing heavily after a moment of pondering, she placed one warm hand on my shoulder and consented at last, "Alright Tobey."_

_I could hardly believe my ears, she had actually agreed? My mouth simply hung open while I registered the information but a small smile crept up as the facts sunk in; I could be alone without a sitter almost twice a week! I looked back at Mum who eyed my joyous smile cautiously, then warned sternly, "But remember young man, you are to be here, in this house, by 6:00pm and you must be in bed by 9:30pm, no later. Understood?"_

_I shook my head fervently, then boldly jumped over the coffee table into her arms for a celebratory bear hug. She chuckled softly in my ear and we stayed like that for a while, savouring the perfect moment before she sent me up to bed; and for once I went willingly, too happy to try to fight…_

I had made a promise to Mum and now look where I was; out wandering the streets way after my agreed bedtime. And tomorrow I would lie to her face and have her scoop me up in her arms saying how proud she was of me. I could hardly bear to think about it, but I reminded myself that this was all necessary in order to have our new plan work successfully. I would have to continue going about the town as normal, not raising anyone's suspicions because if I did. Well, we'd all be doomed.

So, with a heavy heart, I climbed the concrete steps up to our doorway and swung open the door. I had told myself that I'd just get ready for bed the fastest possible and try not to think of the guilt but now as I was surrounded by the many pictures of Mum and I, I found that tactic impossible to follow.

As I gazed at the photographs, my mind re-enacted every situation in which it was it was taken. Every competition I'd been in before I'd moved had seemed far too easy for my tastes. Next to none kids actually cared about science, mathematics, or any real academic at all. And as far as they were concerned, if you liked any of those, you were basically classified as a nerd, stuck up snob who thought they were better than everyone else, and deserved a good harsh beating. So when Mum insisted I compete in these academic events, then after having my face pasted on the newspaper, well, it was basically like walking straight up to those thugs and saying, "Here I am, go ahead, beat me into oblivion," with a wide grin on my face.

I shook those thoughts out of my already worn out mind and climbed wearily into bed, only pausing to slip into my plaid pyjamas, not bothering to button up the shirt. My window hung open and I sighed as the soft, cool breeze relaxed my tense muscles in my shoulders, back, and, chest. I told myself to fall asleep, I didn't want to be exhausted tomorrow and raise Mum's suspicion. But my mind kept wandering to my new position in the villain population.

I was now posing as a double agent which was extremely risky; I knew that out local villains weren't the most violent bunch but they did not take kindly to traitors. Plus, I had no idea what Poison Ivy was capable of but if she was comfortable enough persuading me to murder a superhero, who knew what she would do to one of her fellow villains for betrayal.

Our plan stated that I would agree to Poison Ivy's offer for collaboration and begin working on an army of super robots which she would think of as indestructible. Little did she know that in the past few hours Becky and I had discussed and designed several intentional defaults hidden carefully in the layout of these identical robots. So, if worse came to worse and we couldn't find a way to stop Poison Ivy's plan before the battle, at least Word Girl would know how to defeat them, even if I had t suffer the consequences. Becky had objected when I explained that particular aspect of the plan. In a way, it comforted me that she cared about my well being considering that I now knew her secret identity and the only thing keeping her trust in me was my word. On the other hand, I knew that we were no longer talking about a childish contention with a villain who could be taken down with a few simple word definitions and playful banter. This was a real battle, one that would require sacrifices, and though it was against her superhero beliefs, certain risks would have to be taken. Risks that might very well end in pain or even death.

She had agreed in the end after a long debate, seeing the truth in my argument but still looked uncomfortable with it. Hopefully though, we wouldn't have lots of trouble and we could figure out her weakness before we got to that point. I didn't like the idea dying anymore than she did, but I refused to let my mind settle on that topic, if I kept contemplating death I'd never get to sleep.

So, forcing myself to clear my head, I slowly felt my eyes droop and my breaths even out as I fell into a deep sleep, not even being startled by the familiar sound of mum's car pulling into the driveway…

0o0o0o0

"Is he asleep yet?"

"Yes, his mother just pulled up the driveway," a deep voice answered without lifting his eyes from the computer monitor, his black gloved hands typing steadily.

"Good, good. Leave the message for him somewhere his mother will not stumble on it. I don't need that irritating attorney disrupting my plans," the shadowed personage instructed, her entire body hidden in the shadows with only her pale face showing and her vibrant green eyes glowing wickedly. As she stepped into the dim light, cast from the many monitors and different control panels, her entire attire was exposed. All of her slim body was covered by a moss green jumpsuit with decorative vines and leaves curling around the exterior. Her boots included a slight heel and were a darker shade than the rest of her apparel as well as her elegant gloves.

She waltzed over to the man typing, twisted him away from the screen, and gazed steadily in his eyes repeating the instructions. She adored the art of hypnotizing; it took so much concentration but ended with beautiful results.

"Now go," she ordered when she'd finished, and with a low bow to her, Chuck –the-evil-sandwich-making-guy marched obediently out the door, envelope in hand, ready to deliver it to Tobey.

0o0o0o0

_Dear Tobey,_

_ Please meet me at the abandoned photo copier factory on the west of town for our meeting at 4:00pm. I can't wait to join up with someone with your exceptional intellect; with your amazing robot army I'll be able to rule this city with you right by my side. And they'll be nothing to keep us apart at last._

_I can't wait to see you again my darling Tobey._

_With love,_

_Poison Ivy_

I re-read the letter on my way to school; she wanted to meet with me at 4:00 which meant I'd only have an hour to somehow reach the rendezvous point. How on earth would I manage that? I couldn't very well ask his Mum to drive me out there; firstly, because I couldn't compromise my position anymore, and secondly, because Mum wouldn't even be there after school. It was one of her later working nights, so asking her was completely out of the question.

Folding the creased paper once more, I continued on my way to school and crossing paths with none other than my new ally, Becky Botsford. I flashed her a friendly smile, one which she returned with obvious less enthusiasm. I couldn't really blame her; it would take some getting used to for her that I now knew her well guarded secret. She probably still was on her guard, worried that I might expose her at Word Girl at any moment. I bet that the only thing keeping her trust was my little break down I'd had the other night when I'd revealed my true reason for associating with the villains. I didn't allow myself to indulge in self-pity often, so when I had an almost complete emotional breakdown, and in front of her too, I suppose she could tell I was quite serious.

Her eyes fixed on the message in my hand as she strolled over to walk alongside me. Whispering softly to divert eavesdroppers, she asked, "What'd she say?"

"She wants to meet me at 4:00 on the west side of town in the old abandoned photo copier factory," I replied just as softly, inching just a little closer to her so she could catch my hushed words. The result being that ours hands brushed each others just slightly and with apprehension, I observed her flinch and shuffle away from me, her eyes cast downwards. She continued to whisper to me, as though it hadn't happened, "How are you going to get there in time? School ends at 3:00 and it takes a long time to get that far, and isn't your Mom working late today?"

"I know, I know. I was working on that, not that I've come up with anything," I whispered back, then continued thoughtfully after a moment, "I could use one of my robots, no, never mind. Mom would surely see the commotion; I don't want her to know that I left."

We walked in silence for a while, both of us mulling over our thoughts. Finally, Becky spoke up, "Well, I was talking to Huggy last night about your new position; you wouldn't believe how long it took me to convince him that you were really on our side. Anyways, he wants to come today with you when you go to see Poison Ivy. And you know, you're going to have to tell me what happened at the meeting anyways, and, though I can't believe I'm saying this, I could probably give you a ride. That way, I could eavesdrop inside the factory and make sure she doesn't plan to hypnotise you or anything."

I began to object but then my mind clicked that it was the most plausible answer and as much as I didn't want her anywhere near Poison Ivy; if there was anyone who could get me across town in time, it would be Word Girl. So, instead, I answered, "Alright, so where should I meet up with you; it'll probably only take a few minutes to get there but if we want to check the place out first we should probably head out a little earlier."

She nodded in agreement, "Yeah that sounds like the safest plan of action; how about you come to my house at around 3:30. That way, if anything goes wrong along the way, we'll still have time. I'll tell my mom that we have another project together or something; just play along with whatever I tell her, okay?"

"Alright, so I'll see you after school then."


	3. The Meeting

**Author's Note:**** So, here's the next chapter. I'm sorry it took me so long to update but I was sick last week and I had a lot of schoolwork to catch up on. Anyways, I just finished writing the last three pages while my sisters watched their movie. I hope you like it! It's longer than my other chapters but I don't know if I'll make them that long in the future.**

**Please don't be too mad at me if it takes another whole week to update again, I am trying my best to write every day and update every week. Read and Review!**

**Disclaimer/ I don't own nothin'**

I stood outside Becky's door nervously for the second time that week, waiting for someone to answer the door. Sure enough, a few moments later Mr. Botsford's friendly face popped out, Becky following close behind him.

"Great to see you Tobey! So, Becky tells me you two are doing a project studying the effects of pasta sauce on monkeys; it sounds fascinating!"

Becky caught my eye and shrugged apologetically before stepping out in front of her dad, holding Huggy in her arms, saying, "Yeah, it's really fascinating Dad, but we've got to go now. Don't want to keep Hu-I mean Bob waiting for that pasta sauce."

"Right, of course; have fun you two! And be home for dinner Becky; I'm making Beans a la Botsford!"

When he shut the door I saw Becky grimace while Huggy squealed, "Beans a la Botsford? Great, I'm going to have indigestion for the next week," she turned to Bob who was still chattering happily, "Well, of course you're happy. You love Beans a la Botsford; monkeys, I'll never understand."

She turned to me, as if just realizing I was there, "Right, Tobey, we should get going. Huggy's going to be coming along with us, I hope you don't mind," an indignant squeak told me that Huggy wasn't too thrilled about being mentioned as if he wasn't there.

She led me over to a concealed patch of forest, glanced both ways quickly, and then with a quick "Word Up" she was in full costume. During that moment, I simply admired her; the way her glossy, dark locks swirled in the soft breeze, those beautiful caramel pools that sparkled in the sunlight, and her graceful hands…snapping at me….oh.

I shook my head, wrenching myself out of my staring and blushed when I saw her amused face.

"No time for staring now Tobey, we've got to get to the factory," she glanced at me, as if debating something and then (much to my surprise) scooped me up in her arms, Huggy on her back.

I tried not to express my inner shock; she had never held me in her arms. Whenever she had to bring me home to my Mum, she had always grabbed me by the ankle or back of my shirt. But then again, this was a greater distance than those times had been or perhaps she simply felt that as allies now, it wouldn't be very considerate of her to dangle me upside down at 1000 feet. Either way, I was delighted to learn that I was in the perfect position to tuck my head into her neck and as I did, I was aware of her slight intake of breath as well as her muscles tensing just barely.

I had half expected her to either A: drop me in surprise B: drop me in disgust or C: have Huggy hit me in the head. But, to my surprise, she didn't do anything except breathe out slowly and keep her head facing upwards. A small smile made its way onto my face as I watched her face color slightly. She was blushing! I couldn't really tell if that was a good sign or not so I just decided to keep my mouth shut and focus on keeping my breaths even and simply enjoy the rest of the flight.

A few minutes later, we'd arrived at our destination and I reluctantly drew myself from her warm embrace. The abandoned factory stood menacingly tall, towering over our small forms with its rusted metal walls, creaking in the now stronger breeze. The remains of smoke was still present around the chimneys but the most noticeable thing that caught both the teen's eyes was the double door entrance that had been barred shut with (what looked like) dozens of massive wooden boards.

Both our heads turned back to each other and then did a comical double take back to the doors. The unasked question rested in the air," How in the world were we going to manage to check out the inside without breaking down the doors?"

Finally, I suggested, "Why don't we scour around the rest of the factory and try to find a window or something less obvious to get inside?"

She nodded mutely while Huggy chattered in agreement and we parted ways, me going left and she and Huggy going right. For the first couple of metres I saw absolutely nothing except the steel factory wall reaching high into the sky. But as I travelled a little ways more, I beheld with excitement several windows, big enough to slide inside, lined across the middle of the wall. I anxiously called out for Word Girl and a moment's time later, she was by my side.

I simply pointed upwards and she understood immediately, saying, "I'll go check them out; if I can get in I'll come back and grab you," and with that, she flew up to study the identical windows, leaving me and Huggy standing awkwardly down below.

Thankfully, the awkwardness ended quickly as Word Girl zoomed back down and scooped us both up again, me delightfully in her arms again. Once we'd reached the window, she showed us the petite lever on the side on the window pane that when flipped, opened the window wide open. The window wasn't that large; it could probably fit both us but only if we really squished together.

For a split second, I almost believed that Word Girl might just shove me through, forgetting that we were 15 feet from the ground. Relief flooded over me though when she instead gripped my waist tightly and pulled close against her, her face mere millimetres from mine. I could feel her warm breath against my face and I gasped softly as I felt the peculiar sensation of our noses touching. But then, as suddenly as the moment had started, it had ended and I found myself on the ground once more gazing at Word Girl who looked a little red in the face as Huggy said something to her disapprovingly.

Shaking off my thoughts, I began gazing over the inside of the factory and remarked with interest that in the midst of all the rubble and decaying planks, there was a small meeting spot perfectly clear in the middle. There were two easy chairs, big enough for even two people to sit on, and a small, but lavishly decorated, work desk, most likely where Poison Ivy would examine my robot designs.

I subconsciously patted my back pocket, feeling the lump of fake papers there that Becky and I had drawn up that night; the ones we'd use to deceive Poison Ivy. Hopefully they looked realistic enough, though I didn't really know how much of an expert Poison Ivy was on robots. I hoped with all my might that luck was on my side and she wasn't a professional because she might notice a few of the flaws in them.

My thoughts were interrupted as a rumble shook the fragile building and my eyes connected to Word Girl's; time was up. I needed to get out of here on the double and she and Huggy needed to hide somewhere in the building in order to eavesdrop on our meeting.

In a flash, Word Girl had flown me up to the window and once again pushed us both through quickly, but not too fast that it would seriously hurt. This time I didn't even dwell on the sensation of being so close to my crush, I was too worried about getting out in time to meet Poison Ivy at the front of the building.

I needn't have worried though; being the superhero she was; Word Girl used her handy super speed to drop me off in front of the barred double doors and proceeded to vanish back in to the factory in a blur of light. My gaze turned to the roaring motorcycle that had just pulled up directly in front of me. It was completely green and black, Poison Ivy's signature colors, and seemed to be covered in tiny plants that entwined around the entire vehicle.

The figure on the bike climbed off gracefully and as the dust cleared around her; I was met with the perfect face of Poison Ivy herself. She was dressed in an entire black outfit complete with black pumps and a dark helmet that was tucked safely on her bike. She looked like a model motorbiker with her fiery red hair still perfectly hanging down to her waist; not even a hint that she'd just been riding a motorcycle at breakneck speed.

She waltzed over to where I was standing nervously and swung both arms around me, drawing me close to her. I could detect a faint smell of flowers as she hugged me tight, and a moment later I heard her soft voice whispering in my ear, "Hello Tobey; I see you decided to take me up on my offer."

"Yeah," I replied, almost too softly for her to hear, but I guess my answer was good enough for her because she withdrew from the embrace and strolled up to the barricaded double doors. I watched in astonishment as Poison Ivy snapped her gloved fingers and two cracks in the ground appeared, a green tentacle slithering out of each. These green plants grew until they were completely wrapped around the planks guarding the door and with one mighty tug, the barricade completely crumpled and the doorway stood open and inviting.

Poison Ivy glanced back at me and I quickly shut my gaping mouth and followed close behind her as we entered the factory. While we made our way to the easy chairs and settled into them, Poison Ivy began to speak once more, "I must have forgotten to tell you Tobey about my other powers; you looked a little surprised out there."

I forced out a weak laugh, "Yeah, I didn't know you could do that; control plants, I mean."

She nodded lazily, subconsciously twirling her fingers and producing more cracks in the floor with green plants sliding out of each. I gulped nervously; I certainly hoped she never planned to tie me up with those, because if they were strong enough to break down 2 feet wide planks without any difficulty, they could certainly snap me in half in a heartbeat.

As I refocused my attention on Poison Ivy, I found her watching my intently, her eyes reverting to the lump in my back pocket. Realizing it was time to reveal my plans; I cleared my throat and slowly drew out the papers from my pocket. Poison Ivy followed me to the work desk and stood behind me while I unrolled the plans, her warm breath tickling the back of my neck eerily. It was odd how…disgusted I felt; when it had been Word Girl who was this close to me I had felt invigorated. I suppose it just went to show that it really did make a difference on who you were with and not just what they were doing to you.

Speaking of Word Girl, while Poison Ivy looked over my plans in awe my eyes scoured the inside of the factory for any sign of the super heroine and her monkey sidekick. Behind those boxes of rusting photocopiers? No. Hidden in the shadows near the far left wall? No. I searched every possible place I could without being too obvious, without any luck. Finally, my logic began to kick in; Word Girl was no idiot, she would be using every available advantage to her. And what were her advantages? Well, she was a superhero with supernatural powers; but speed, strength, or vocabulary wouldn't help her in this situation so that left…

As inconspicuously as I possibly could; I tilted my head back just far enough to get a glimpse of the ceiling and just as I suspected, I was greeted with the anxious face of Word Girl who was hovering behind the light fixtures. In her arms sat Captain Huggyface who appeared equally nervous as they watched with apprehension the exchanges between me and Poison Ivy. I flashed them a small reassuring smile (or what I _hoped_ was a reassuring smile) then turned my attention back to Poison Ivy who was just about finished with my designs.

"So, do they seem okay? I made sure they're equipped with all the latest weapons and defences, including a laser eyes that can slice clean through an office building," I told her, while wringing my hands nervously.

She laughed at my nervous gesture and ran one slender hand through my blond locks, causing a shiver to course through my body. With one fluid movement, I was now facing her and our bodies were tightly pressed together; I had to stop myself from cringing in disgust. She leaned in and whispered in my ear tantalizingly, "Don't you worry about the robot designs; you definitely lived up to your boy genius title. Now," she straightened to her full height then took her seat in one of the chairs, beckoning me to sit in the other, "on to other business matters. I want to make my move on the city soon so I'll need your robot army done quickly."

"How soon do you want it?" I asked, trying to sound casual as I pulled out my notebook to write down information.

"Well, my fellow villains tell me you can build one of your regular robots in around a day; so since these will be probably more challenging to build, I'd expect you to be done in maximum two weeks. It won't take too many robots to dispose of Word Girl if you build them properly, which I know you will Tobey," she winked at me while smiling at me in a way that said 'or else'.

Two weeks? My mind whirled; would we be ready to fight her by then? Logic told me to try to extend the date as far as I could without making her overly suspicious. So, after putting on a thoughtful expression, I answered, "It will probably take me a week to make simply three robots at most. Not to disappoint you of course," I added quickly, "but I simply don't have enough daylight hours in the day to build that many complex robots. I am still in school which takes up 6 hours of my day. And then there's the problem of my mother; I don't want to make her too suspicious."

"Aww, don't tell me you're afraid of your mommy Tobey. I thought you were a big boy," Poison Ivy replied, a smirk twisting her face.

"I'm not afraid of my mother!" I objected indignantly, "I'm simply saying that as an attorney she could cause trouble for us if she found out!"

"Well then, we'll just have to get her out of the way too," she suggested wickedly.

My eyes widened in fear and I covered up my words from before by saying quickly, "Forget what I said; don't worry about it, I'll keep it from Mum."

"Good," she purred, moving closer to my chair, "I wouldn't want to hurt anything _dear_ to you Tobey. And now that business is over, we can enjoy ourselves…"

0o0o0o0

Half an hour later, Poison Ivy finally left, bidding me farewell with another kiss on the cheek and I was now once again alone with Word Girl and Huggy. I had finally gotten her to agree to extend the deadline to three weeks but not without many well placed kisses and a lot of smooth talking. I was beginning to think that perhaps she did enjoy playing around me and the thought made me cringe.

Apparently, I wasn't the only one disgusted by our exchanges because the first words that left Word Girl's mouth when she landed were, "Okay, that was extremely disturbing. Is that how you villains always manipulate each other into doing stuff? 'Cause that's just gross!"

"Hey, it's not like you were the one who had to pretend to be awestruck by a psycho insane villain who wants to take over the city!" I retorted, a bit stung by the fact that she thought that all villains were like Poison Ivy.

A squeak from Huggy brought us back to seriousness and Word Girl spoke first, "Okay, so we've officially got three weeks to find a way to defeat Poison Ivy. How are we going to that?"

"Well, we're not going to be able to do it by ourselves, that's for sure. We need more support," I paused for a minute before continuing, "and the best option for that would most definitely be Dr. Two Brains."

"What!?" She exclaimed, looking at me like I was insane, "Why on earth would we get help from another villain of all people?!"

I had to calm her down; we weren't going to get anywhere if she stayed this hyped up. So, with a little hesitation, I put an arm around her shoulders causing her to cringe a little but then relax beside me. I then continued talking, "We need Doc on our side because A: he's the smartest person I know and B: because I know deep down that he doesn't want to see you killed anymore than I do. So, I believe that if we go and talk to him tomorrow we'll be able to get him on our side. And if Doc's on our side, they'll definitely be more villains willing to join our force; Doc is one of the most respected villains in the city."

After a minute or so of more arguing (and a few helpful persuasive points from Huggy) she finally agreed to come with us to convince Doc the next day after school. Thankful that she'd agreed, I asked finally, "So, can we go now? My mum will be home soon and I'd rather not that she not find out what we're involved in yet."

"Sure, we'd better go," she glanced at Huggy and added sarcastically, "Because I _know_ Huggy is going to positively starve if we don't eat soon."

I smiled softly at the obvious admiration between the two of them and as we flew back to my house a thought struck me suddenly, "Word Girl?"

"Yes?" Came her immediate reply, her chocolate eyes reverting down to me.

"I will have to tell my Mum eventually, won't I? I won't be able to hide this from her for long; she'll figure it out sooner or later and I don't want her believing that I'm really evil."

Word Girl took a moment before answering, "Yes, you probably should tell your mum soon; she's a great strategist; we could use her talents in capturing Poison Ivy. Yeah, tell her soon and if she has trouble believing you, you can always come see me to back you up."

"Thanks," I said softly, hardly believing that Word Girl was actually offering to help me out. But then again, we were allies now; I had to remind myself of that.

An indignant squeak wrenched me out of my thoughts and I heard Word Girl laugh, "Oh yes; and Huggy will help too. No, of course we didn't forget about you, Huggy!"

I chuckled as well when I heard him give a content squeak and curl tighter around Word Girl's neck. And for the rest of the flight I simply enjoyed the animated conversations and the comforting feeling of being held in Word Girl's caring arms; for who knew if we would have many carefree moments like this in the future…


	4. Talking to Doc

**Author's note:**** Next chapter's up like I said it would be! YES! I made my deadline! That's an awesome feeling!**

**Please read and review so I feel motivated to keep writing! Cause you guys are really awesome reviewers! **

A few days had passed and I was still building Poison Ivy's robot army whenever I could without Mum noticing. Creating these automatons proved to be a difficult task as I wasn't used to making purposeful flaws. But I had even come up with a new way to program them; they would be programmed to recognize my voice and using that, I would be able to re wire them almost instantly simply telling them to switch their target. At the moment there were programmed to identify Word Girl as their target but if worse came to worse, I would have the power to change their goal to Poison Ivy almost immediately. It had taken quite a while to figure out a way to accomplish this but I'd finally figured it out late one night after a few hours of building.

I had, had a few close calls already with Mum; she had caught me on my computer in my room programming my robots and luckily I'd been able to convince her that I'd been working on a school project (my excuses are pathetic) but she was still suspicious. Which resulted in me making up more and more lies that all made me sick to my stomach. I had never liked telling lies, especially to Mum, a characteristic that many villains had become irritated with.

Talking to Becky more publicly at school was becoming easier and easier and I was overjoyed to notice that she'd been becoming less cold and formal towards me. She'd even sat with me at lunch yesterday (much to the surprise of Scoops and Violet)! I was beginning to feel that small flicker of hope grow inside of me; perhaps Becky really did enjoy spending time with me, I mean, I didn't want to get my hopes up but I was 99% percent sure that she'd blushed last time I complimented her on her vocabulary. She'd never done that before and I couldn't help but wonder if she might be feeling something similar to what I was feeling.

Regardless of all that though, Becky, Huggy, and I had agreed on paying our visit to Dr. Two Brains Saturday morning, tomorrow. We had concocted our little story to fool our parents (another school project, I mean, how un-creative are we?!) and we'd be heading out at around 10:00am, hopefully, it wouldn't take all day to convince him. My mum was already really dubious about our cover story and was becoming more and more suspicious about my weak reasons for locking myself in my room for hours at a time. I didn't think I'd be able to hide this from her much longer but I'd resolved not to rest on that subject for the time being. The important thing was to focus on coming up with persuasive arguments to convince Doc to help us out. I just hoped they'd be enough…

0o0o0o0

Friday seemed to fly by all too quickly and before I knew it, I was heading out the front door, ready to meet Becky and fly to Dr. Two Brains lair.

"Don't be too long Tobey," Mum called out from the front hall, "I want you to be home for lunch."

Would we be done by then? I didn't think so, "Umm, Becky and I were going to just grab a sandwich for lunch and work on our project at the library. We decided that just two hours might not be enough," I told her quickly, hating the way the lie simply slid out of my mouth with ease.

As I glanced back to Mum I felt the guilt wash over me once more. Her face still maintained all her original suspicion but I could clearly see the worried look in her eyes. I didn't want to worry her, that's the last thing I wanted to do. I had to stop myself from spilling the beans right there and then; I just wanted to tell her everything, my role as a double agent, how terrified Poison Ivy made me feel, and how afraid I was at the prospect of things to come. But I couldn't; Mum couldn't know yet, the time just wasn't right.

So, with a deep breath, I forced (what I hoped was) a convincing smile onto my face and wrapped my arms around Mum's neck. She returned my hug quickly, maybe a little too quickly, and for a perfect moment, I felt safe in Mum's arms.

And then it was over and I was strolling out the door, waving good bye to Mum and a minute later Word Girl and Huggy had appeared in front of me. I let out a yell.

"Whoa! What are you trying to do? Give me a heart attack?!"

"Oh please, drama queen," Word Girl replied, pushing me playfully, "You should be used to people popping up at you. I mean, how many times have I come to see you?"

"Fine, fine; you've made your point," I turned to Huggy, "Does she always rub things in?"

He nodded his head, silent laughter showing on his monkey face while Word Girl looked at the pair of us, annoyed, "Well, you do know I'm right. Boys," she muttered while scooping me up and taking off.

I'd become more accustomed to our new flying arrangement but it still gave me a thrill whenever her arms wrapped around me. I could never even guess what was going through her mind while she held me, I hoped it was something good, but for all I knew she could be totally disgusted with me right now. I went through what I knew; first, Becky had been acting more friendly towards me. That didn't seem like something she'd do if she didn't really like me and during those times together she had seemed sincere enough. Second, I knew that we needed to keep contact so we could make sure that the other was okay and our cover wasn't blown but Becky had visited me every single day since our trip to the abandoned factory. And during those visits, she hadn't only dropped in and dropped out quickly; she had stayed, watched me work on constructing the robots, and simply kept me company until she had to get home. She could have simply popped in and out, only staying long enough to make sure I was still alive but instead she was spending more time talking with me in one afternoon then she used to in an entire week. Finally, there had been a few more accidental moments when we'd ended up extremely close to one another, like that time we had to get through the window at the factory, and she never pulled away immediately but she didn't speak of them afterwards either.

I rubbed my head tiredly; why did girls have to be so confusing?

Word Girl must have seen me because a moment later she asked, "You okay Tobey?"

"Hmm?"

"You were just rubbing your head; do you have a headache or something?"

"Or something," I replied, changing the topic I asked, "So, how do you know where Dr Two Brains secret hideout is?"

She scoffed, "Well, I'm stupid; it's not that hard to figure it out. Also the fact that I've already been there a few times before helps."

"True enough; these days 'secret' hideouts aren't that secret. I mean, everyone knows where I live."

"Yeah, but that's because you have a 'bedroom lair' not a secret hideout, you're in the phone book Tobey!"

"Oh, right…," we lapsed into silence, a comfortable silence though. I supposed Becky wanted to get started quickly on Dr. Two Brains because a few seconds later she increased our speed to her regular speed of light and literally two seconds later we were standing nervously outside the lair of Dr. Two Brains. We glanced anxiously at each other and with my shaking hand; I slowly knocked twice on the ancient steel door.

A loud booming voice resounded from the inside, "Who's there?!"

Once more we glanced at each other and I called out timidly, "Hey Doc? It's just me, Tobey."

"What do you want, Tobey?"

"I just wanted to talk to you about a technical problem I've been having and you're the only person who knows enough to help me. Could I come in please?" I hoped he would believe me; our entire plan would backfire if he didn't.

Thankfully, a minute later the door swung open and I was greeted with the eccentric face of Dr. Two Brains himself; his silver hair just as crazy as ever. His mouth was twisted into his usual mad grin which instantly changed to a look of rage as he saw the super heroine by my side. I flinched involuntarily as he yelled full of boiling rage, "Tobey! What in the name of gorgonzola is SHE doing here!?"

"Nice to see you too Doc," Word Girl replied easily, giving him a warning glare, "I'm not here to arrest you so you can stop looking at me like that."

His face lost a portion of its anger as he glared at the two of us suspiciously, "Than why are you here? If you don't want to arrest me I see no reason for to be knocking on my door Word Girl."

What was I? Invisible?

"We came to talk to you Doc; we need your help."

"We?" Doc repeated, finally turning his gaze to me.

Oh, so now they see me.

"Yes, we. We desperately need your help; but no one can no about this so if you wouldn't mind, could we please step inside and stop attracting the attention of pedestrians?" I asked as politely as I could, giving him a pleading look.

He scrutinized us for another minute or so before grudgingly stepping aside and letting us squeeze by into the dark, musty lair. Doc didn't believe in spending too much time on décor so it was basically a huge brick room cluttered with old rays and other inventions. Although he did have a large, antique sofa with his custom built flat screen TV in one of the corners. I'd come over a few times since our ill-fated collaboration and we'd become friends. Well, perhaps not "friends" but at least more than acquaintances. I'd also met his two henchmen who were actually quite charming people, even though definitely not the most sharp-witted.

However, I knew that this was not a social visit and pulling the friend card on Doc would probably not go over well. Doc didn't invite us to sit, not that I thought he would though, so instead we stood on one side of his massive scheming table, him and his henchmen on the other.

"So what's the deal you two? Last I heard Tobey you were still a villain and yet, here you are standing next to Word Girl herself."

I opened my mouth to retort but was cut short by Huggy's indignant screeching followed by Word Girl's assurance that they knew he was there. I shook it off and began again, "Were here Doc because we need your help. There's a new-"

"'We'? So you admit that you've teamed up with our number one enemy, Tobey. We're going to have a very interesting next villain convention once they find out about this."

"I don't care Doc; Poison Ivy wants to take over the city and murder Word Girl and I'd rather save her life and have you all hate me than let her die at the hands of my robots," I blasted off angrily, hating how incredibly cheesy that sounded and oblivious to Word Girl staring at me with a strange expression on her face.

The look on Doc's face surprised me; it had lost its original malice and suspicion and took on one of confusion and, dare I say it, concern? Maybe I had gotten through to him, wow that was quick.

Unfortunately, a moment later the concern had completely faded as he asked, "Why do _you_ know about this Tobey? And what do you mean that Word Girl will be killed by your robots?"

"At the last villain's convention she offered me a chance for collaboration. She wants me to build an army of super robots that will eliminate Word Girl so she can control the city without interference."

"And you agreed to that?! What about your little schoolboy crush on her?"

My face burned from embarrassment and I avoided Word Girl's eyes while answering, "I talked with Word Girl before I agreed; I'm a double agent now."

My words sunk in as a wave of realization swept over Doc's face, "Ah, so you want my help against Poison Ivy because you know that if you try to talk to the other villains, they won't take you seriously. But if I talk to them, they'll consider joining your cause; correct?"

Word Girl and I nodded; nervously hoping that he'd agree.

He took his time, that's for sure, thinking over his answer, pacing back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and back and fo- never mind he was done now.

"Well, I am a villain, no doubt there, but I guess if Word Girl died stealing cheese would lose all of its fun. Besides, I have a million new rays I want to try out and I might as well give them a whirl on Poison Ivy. Alright," he stuck out his hands for us to shake, "I'll help you guys out. But after this over kiddo," he pointed at Word Girl, "you and I are going back to being enemies."

"You got it Doc."

0o0o0o0

A few hours later, I was finally home again. We'd spent an extremely long time (in my opinion) working on new strategies for fighting Poison Ivy and finding her weakness. We still didn't have the slightest idea of how to defeat her but at least we had some new fighting techniques.

At the moment I was exhausted, mentally and physically. I just wanted to plop down on the couch at home and fall asleep for a few hours but Mom was waiting for me when I got in the front door,

"I want to talk to you Tobey come and sit," she patted the couch next to her.

That didn't sound too good.

I cautiously sat down next to her and asked, "So…what do you want to talk about Mum? I didn't do anything did I?"

"No, I've just been wondering what you've been up to these days. You know that you can tell me anything Tobey, I'll be here to listen."

Okay, I've been avoiding talking to her about this because it wasn't the right time; but I think now it's the right time because she's totally on to me anyways.

"Well, actually, you know how I've been telling you that Becky and I have been working on a school project?"

She nodded slowly.

"Well, that wasn't really the truth, ummmm, I don't really know where to start, so much has happened so far," I told her awkwardly, rubbing the back of my neck.

"Just start at the beginning, tell me the truth; the _whole_ truth…"

0o0o0o0

And so that's how I winded up telling Mum my entire crazy story about meeting Poison Ivy, becoming a double agent, talking to Doc. She listened the entire time, only asking the occasional question but otherwise she was quiet and contemplative. At the end of my bizarre tale she didn't say anything for a few minutes but finally said, "Well, it looks like you've had your plate full since last week. Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

I paused, not knowing how to phrase it exactly, "Well, I guess I just didn't want to worry you too much and it was so complicated and…"

I faded off into silence and the next thing I knew, Mum had pulled me into a big bear hug. Sighing, I wrapped my arms around her neck and relaxed into the warm embrace. She kept her arms around me while running a hand through my hair, caressing my head lovingly and I sighed again. Some boys my age found it super embarrassing and gross when their Mom's did this but I loved it; it made me feel so cared about and loved. It was an awesome feeling.

She pulled away slightly and asked, "So what are we going to do?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you don't think that I'm going to let you deal with this on your own do you? You're going to need strategic help and that's one thing I can definitely help you with."

I grinned, my Mum was awesome!


	5. Oh shoot

**Author's**** Note:**** Okay, I know it's stupid chapter title but whatev, I'm really tired today! Anyways, this chapter isn't much of an action chapter becuase I was in a really mushy mood this week so that's what this chapter turned out to be. Fluff-mania! I hope you like anyways and probably my next chapter will be the big battle one, so bear with me, 'cause I suck at writing battle stuff!**

**Oh, and I'm having a bit of trouble coming up with Poison Ivy's actual weakness. I mean, my awesome friend gave me some pretty good ideas but I just wanted to know if you guys could think of anything for me to use because I would totally love you if you did. JK, that sounds a bit weird! But all the same, if you could give it some thought I'd really, really, REALLY appreciate it!**

**Yeah, yeah, yeah, I own nothin' (as you all know!)**

"I told you Poison Ivy; I simply am not capable of finishing my robots by the end of the week. What happened to the three weeks we agreed on?"

At the moment I was in a heated argument with Poison Ivy who had dropped in for a surprise visit. Apparently; I was taking too long in building my robots and she wanted to move the date up to the end of the week. WAS SHE CRAZY?! How could she possibly think that I'd be able to finish an entire army in just a few more short days? I could barely make the first deadline let alone making another dozen robots in less than three days. I had to get her to change her mind, I just had too! We weren't nearly ready to fight Poison Ivy; we had been working day and night but we still could not determine her weakness. I had done every I could possibly do; take secret scans of Poison Ivy, find out about her background, and I even dared to ask her what she was most afraid of. Which she replied to with a simple, "Nothing."

But nothing maxed out; nothing fit together in the end. My Mum was beginning to have dark circles under her eyes, matching those of Doc's. Though they had been a bit shaky at first (which was understandable since she had sentenced him to prison more than once), they were working together splendidly. They both worked extremely hard without rest until Word Girl and I forced them to. And they were both brilliant, each one a genius in their own way. My Mum was absolutely stimulating with her creative and foolproof strategies (plus her knowledge of robots and engineering helped) and Doc was amazing at designing and creating new weapons for us to use. In fact, if Doc wasn't an evil super villain and my Mum not an attorney, they might have even been friends.

Anyways, back to the present time when Poison Ivy's face was the same shade of red as her hair. My heart was beginning to hammer in my chest and my breaths were coming out in shorter pants. Keep cool Tobey, keep cool Tobey.

"What happened was that I realized that I didn't want to wait another two weeks to control this city," she slammed her hand down on my desk for emphasis, then leaned in, so close our noses were touching, "I want this city in three days or, Tobey?"

I flinched away from her, my eyes shut tight, just to have forced open a moment later by the enraged Poison Ivy. She gripped my chin forcefully, forcing me to stare directly into those hypnotic green eyes, "I will make sure that your existence in this city is positively miserable and you will have nothing, not even your over protective mother."

And then, I was released and she was waltzing out the window once more, climbing down the wall, and hopping gracefully onto her motorcycle. I fell back onto my bed trembling madly; what was I going to do? I couldn't stop myself from shaking as I tried to calm myself, without success. Where was Mum? She was supposed to be back from Doc's already; I needed her here, now. So, with my legs still trembling terribly, I slowly made my way down to the hallway phone and quickly dialled Mum's cell phone.

She picked up almost immediately, "Tobey; is that you? Are you alright?"

"I'm fi-," I corrected my usual automatic answer, "I need you to come home immediately."

"Why? What's happened?"

"P-Poison Ivy j-just left here," I tried to control the shakiness of my voice, "I….I just need you to come home."

I'd hoped she'd picked up on my subtle plea and luckily, she did.

"Do you mind if Word Girl and Dr. Two Brains came over too? We still need to work out a few details in Word Girl's new suit."

"Sure, that's fine but please…," I trailed off for a moment, "Please get here soon."

"Of course sweetheart. See you soon."

I hung up the receiver; my hands still a little shaky and began to make my way back upstairs. Mum would come straight up; I could tell that she knew I needed some one on one time with her. Sighing shakily, I striped off my bright vest and cast it askew along with my glasses that I placed on my headboard. Lying down with a thump, I melted into the soft mattress as my thoughts swirled about in my mind. How was I going to tell everyone that I'd bungled our entire operation? Poison Ivy was going to attack in three days whether we liked it or not and I really had no choice but to go along with it. Either that or risk suffering a far worse fate from Poison Ivy and although I knew that they would be upset with the turn of events, neither Word Girl or Mum would want me to take any unnecessary risks. They were too concerned with my safety, well, at least Mum was. For all I knew, Word Girl couldn't care less about what happened to me.

I had a stronger feeling that Word Girl held some sentiments for me at least. And they weren't ones of displeasure, I was certain of that. But what I wasn't certain about was whether or not she was going to act on them. My feelings had grown stronger since before our collaboration and I…..I wanted to be closer with Becky. Not physically, necessarily, but more mentally. I wanted her to feel just comfortable around me; no more awkward pauses when I complimented her or flinches when our hands brushed accidently. I just wanted to talk to her really, like a normal friend would and even though she had been becoming friendlier, I still didn't feel a connection on her part. I suppose I shouldn't be pushing her towards anything, but it was just so difficult not to want to be near her. She was like a magnet that I was drawn to, and I couldn't stop it.

The front door swinging open wrenched me out of my thoughts and I soon heard the soft thumps of my Mum's feet making their way up to my bedroom. I sat up a little straighter when she walked in and a moment later I was once again encased in my Mum's navy blue clad arms. She didn't let go for a while, just sat there holding me close but finally her velvety voice broke the comforting silence, "Tobey?"

I looked up, my head drawing away from her chest, and our blue eyes connecting, "Yes Mum?"

"What happened Tobey?" She asked softly, running one calloused hand through my blond locks.

"Poison Ivy showed up about an hour and a half after you'd left and she told me," I paused for a moment, not knowing how Mum would take it, "she said that she wanted my robot army done by the end of the week. She's attacking in three days."

I heard Mum's sharp intake of breath and watched anxiously her eyes looking upwards as she worked something out in her head. Her arms gripped me tighter but before she could say anything else, my bedroom door swung open and both Doc and Word Girl came jogging in, looking at the pair of us with anxious expressions. Word Girl's caramel eyes darted from Mum to me and her face twisted into something resembling concern, but my eyes could've simply been tricking me.

I was suddenly released from Mum's embrace and Doc began speaking to her, "So, Claire-Bear," I held back a giggle at my Mum's grimace at her newly placed nickname, "what's going on?"

"Poison Ivy's attacking in three days."

Wow, that was a little blunt, even for my Mum and I watched as Word Girl and Doc's mouth gaped open at the statement.

Finally, Doc managed to splutter out, "W-What? How could she be attacking so soon? I thought we had another few weeks?"

"I thought so too but unfortunately Poison Ivy just moved up the date and we have no choice to accept it."

"Why do we have to?"

Heads turned to Word Girl as she posed the question.

"Why do we have to accept it?" She asked once again, looking very determined.

Mum matched Word Girl's own determined expression with her own stating, "Because we are not going to risk putting my son into anymore danger than he's already in. Why don't you tell us what happened, Tobey," she said in a softer tone, rubbing soothing circles on my back.

"It's nothing Mum, really," I mumbled, avoiding the gazes of the others. I didn't want them to think I was a wimp.

She continued nudging me on though until I finally confessed, "She just threatened me that's all; it's not a huge deal."

"What did she say Tobey?" Came Word Girl's next question.

I hesitated, not really wanting to say anymore in front of Doc or Mum. Doc because, well, he's a villain regardless of whether he's helping us out or not and I still wasn't perfectly comfortable with revealing everything to the mad scientist. And Mum would worry about the threat too much and would not be able to focus on the tasks at hand. We couldn't have that, if Mum wasn't concentrated, there was no way we'd beat Poison Ivy.

"I can't tell you two," I motioned to the two adults who looked momentarily surprised.

"But Tobey-"

"No, Mum," I cut her off gently, "I can't; not now. Please, just go with Doc and start working, I'll be down eventually."

Mum still looked uncertain but obediently followed Doc out the door, leaving me and Word Girl alone. For a few moments, nothing was said between us but eventually I cleared my throat nervously and gestured for her to sit with me on the bed. She did so, moving slowly and cautiously, then finally settling down a comfortable distance from me.

"So? What did she say?" Word Girl asked softly, tracing nervous circles on my comforter.

"S-She told me that she'd make me miserable," I admitted, not meeting her eyes that I could feel boring into the back of my head, "She said that I'd have nothing….not e-even Mum."

The reality sunk into me at once, all my pent up emotions since Poison Ivy's visit, suddenly came to the surface as I realized just what we were up against. Our chances were next to nothing in this fight and everyone was going to pay for it, including….

I looked up to finally meet those honey eyes I'd fallen in love with that were now glistening with tears. I had made her cry! I never meant to make her cry, so I just impulsively reached up and brushed the tears that had begun to fall. My hand lingered on her cheek, cupping it perfectly and our eyes connected as we slowly inched closer to each other.

A moment later I had wrapped my arms hesitantly around her graceful form and it was as if she'd melted into me. I could feel her helmet slipping off so I removed the article gently, placing it beside us on the bed, then began softly caressing her dark tresses. I heard her sigh contentedly as she snuggled in more to my chest and a moment later, she lifted her head to meet my eyes once more.

"Tobey?"

"Hmm?"

She struggled with her words for a moment before settling on a simple, "Thank you."

"No problem," I replied equally as soft, and then I finally drew myself back from her until we were both sitting separately once more.

I rubbed the back of my neck nervously, not certain if I'd done something wrong but my worries were relieved when she smiled warmly at me before getting up off the bed gracefully. I followed her out the door when I suddenly thought of something. Grabbing her arm anxiously, she turned her head to me, puzzled as I asked quickly, "You won't…you won't tell my Mum about that, will you?"

"What? About the threat or the hugging?" She asked back a little teasingly.

"Well, I was just going to say the threat but, now that you mention it; maybe you couldn't tell her about the hugging either. Mum would go ballistic!"

Word Girl looked shocked, "She'd go crazy because we were hugging? Do I really bug her that much?"

"No, no ,no!" I replied, realizing my bad wording, "I mean, she'd go totally out of her mind with happiness; she's been nudging me to go make some friends for, like, ever."

"Oh, okay, you had me worried there McCallister," she told me teasingly again, "But come on Tobey, your Mom and Doc are designing me a new suit and they're going to need your 'exceptional intellect.'"

I grinned and we both jogged happily down the circular staircase and joined the adults in the living room around the coffee table. Blueprints were laid out all over the wooden surface, all depicting a new Word Girl suit. It was an exact replica of her current one appearance wise but in the notes it showed a number of extra safety devices and concealed weapons including two extremely powerful explosives hidden in her gloves.

I pointed them out frantically, "Are you insane Doc?! You can't put those explosives in her gloves; one punch from her and she'll be blown to bits."

"Gee thanks Tobey," Word Girl commented, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"I know they're a safety hazard Tobey and if you'll look closely, I did install a safety device in them. They won't activate until Word Girl does so purposefully. I'm not an idiot Tobey," Doc retorted in a huff.

Embarrassed, I continued looking over the plans and found many other weapons that I'd never dreamed of using in my many attacks against Word Girl. Too much violence. I know that sounded stupid seeing as I was the one who was always obsessing over defeating Word Girl, but oh well.

Finally, I finished looking them over and it was time to start building; I just hoped that it'd be enough….

0o0o0o0

Many tiring hours, a raided fridge courtesy of Huggy, and nail struck fingers later; the suit was finally complete. Who knew it could take so long just to conceal some weapons in a suit? We had started at around 2:00 in the afternoon and already it was 10:00 at night due to the long hours of building, re-designing, and a break for dinner. Becky had called her parents and told them that she was staying over here and if they found that weird at all, they didn't voice it.

The second we'd finished the project Doc had collapsed in exhaustion on the couch downstairs and Mum had told us to just leave him be. Equally as drained, Mum retreated soon afterwards to her bedroom after making sure that Becky, Huggy, and I were all tucked in and ready for bed in my bedroom. It had taken forever to get Becky to agree to take the bed; she just kept insisting that it was mine and she shouldn't be intruding. Honestly, she didn't have to have been so stubborn, it was just a night and Huggy had already flipped over to sleep on my pillow anyways. So, I had half-heartedly made myself a bed on the floor because to me, I didn't care where I slept as long as I could sleep somewhere SOON. I may not have been as burnt out as Doc and Mum but my body seriously needed sleep in order to be able to function at all tomorrow.

So finally, the lights were all extinguished and the only noise in the dark room was Huggy obnoxious snoring and the steady breaths of me and Becky. I felt my eyes begin to droop; my eyelids felt like lead, pulling my eyes closed. And soon I slipped into my wonderful dreamland where all I thought about was curling up with Becky next to a roaring fire with an ice cream in both of our hands…


	6. AUTHOR'S NOTE!

Hey Guys!

Sooooooooooo, I'm really sorry to say that this week's chapter may not be up this week. I'm not discontinuing this story, no way, but I'm going on a hike in New York this weekend. An 8 HOUR HIKE! Yeah, it's intense. Anyways, there's no WiFi or computers up there and I won't be back till late Saturday and I'll probably just collapse in exhaustion in my bed when I get back. My parents have a thing against me posting things on Sunday so unless I get them to say yes, we're looking at a new post Monday night.

I know it's not a huge deal and I didn't really need to tell you guys but I just felt that I should let you guys know because I did promise a new chapter this week.

Although, who knows? When we stop for a meal at Wendy's I might miraculously have a quick chance to update which would be awesome! So just hang in there and the new chapter should be up soon!

Wish me luck on the hike!

-MusicNeverStops474


	7. Stretching out the story

**Author's Note:**** So those that read my little author's note last week already knew this but yeah, I didn't post last week. I know, I know, and I'm sorry. Every day when I woke up, I was all inspirational and like, "I'm going to post today!" And then it just never happened, so I simply decided to do it tonight because it had strechted out to 7 pages and it was just time. Yes, I know it's not the battle chapter I promised but I felt like stretching out the few days before they face Poison Ivy. Mostly because I loathe writing those out. Anyways, here it finally is and I hope you all like. Remember, reviews always make me work faster!**

**Disclaimer/ It feels like I just did this...No I don't own anything but mark my words, I will one day!**

The next morning I woke up feeling very out of place. Why was the ceiling so far away and my bed so hard? I began to roll onto my side and then it hit me, literally. I bonked my head on the bed and suddenly remembered who was asleep in it.

Still rubbing my sore forehead, I stood up quietly and gazed at Becky who, I suppose, had transformed back into her Becky outfit for the night after I'd fallen asleep. She looked so peaceful, lying there with her dark hair still miraculously looking somewhat neat and her eyes shut with a peaceful expression on her beautiful face. I almost reached out to brush away a lock of stray hair when I noticed the Huggy was wide awake and watching me warily.

"Oh, shoot," I whispered, withdrawing my hand swiftly, "I didn't mean to, I mean, did it look like I was, or did it…..never mind. I'll just go downstairs."

Mortified, I realized that Huggy was probably going to tell Becky about that little scene. Aww man! 'Bet you anything breakfast was going to be totally awkward between us now. Oh well, I decided I might as well get changed, I was still wearing the same oil-stained clothes from yesterday. So I tiptoed back to my dresser when suddenly I realized that with all that had been going on, Mum hadn't done the laundry. I did have lots of other clothes of course, I didn't always where bow ties and knee socks. Okay, maybe I did wear them MOST of the time but usually when I was at home over the weekend or whatever, I would where something a with a little less layers.

I quietly slid open a few drawers and grabbed some khakis, a plain black t-shirt, and two socks that (unfortunately) did not match. Neon green and shocking white; gee, that was classy.

I made my way to the bathroom at the end of the hall to take a quick shower and I swear I almost screamed when I saw my reflection in the massive circular mirror. My hair was a rat's nest, my clothes all rumpled and greased, and my face was equally covered in grease stains. Becky had missed a perfectly good mocking opportunity last night if I'd looked the same as I do now; like an Indian kid with paint markings all over my face and a limp bow tie around my neck. She must've been just as exhausted as the rest of us if she hadn't at least poked fun at my smeared glasses that were balanced on the end of my nose.

Sighing contentedly when the warm water hit me, I scrubbed away all the remnants of yesterday's project and made sure to get all the oil that had streaked black in my blond hair. I could've stayed in there forever but I knew that I should probably head back to my bedroom where Becky was surely wondering what the heck I was thinking after hearing Huggy's tale.

So, after I'd finally finished dressing, I strolled down the hallway once more and after a moment of hesitancy, I pushed the door open. I was met with the sight of Becky calmly brushing out her curly hair which she stopped immediately after seeing me.

"Oh, hey Tobey. Huggy told me that you were going downstairs and I just found this brush on you dresser, hope you don't mind."

"Not at all," I replied easily.

I watched as her eyes slowly scrutinized me before she asked, "What are you wearing Tobey?"

"Clothes."

"Ha ha, I mean don't you have like a permanent outfit that you always wear? With the bow tie, the shorts, and the vest?"

"Yeah, I do but Mum was really busy this week and she didn't really have time to wash those clothes. Besides, I do have other clothes besides those; I just don't wear them as often. They don't look weird do they?" I asked, looking over myself.

"Nah, just different. I've never seen you in a different outfit except for Halloween a few years ago when you wore that, ummm, unique samurai costume," she said, holding back a laugh.

"If you mean 'ridiculous' just say it."

"Okay, maybe it was a tad bit ridiculous, I mean, leg warmers?"

"You got a point there," I agreed, chuckling at the memory of jumping out of a tree that Halloween, "Anyways; we should get downstairs for breakfast. Do you need a shower or anything?"

"No, I'll take one later today when I get home. I was mostly just the model for the suit; you guys made it."

We made our way down the stairs and sitting at the breakfast table was Doc, eating (of course) a piece of cheese. When he saw us, he licked his rubber gloves clean noisily then motioned to the fridge, "Sorry about your cheese kiddo; it made a wonderful breakfast though."

I rolled my eyes at the obviousness of it all; of course Doc would eat all of the cheese in the house before we'd even got downstairs. Good thing me and Mum weren't huge fans of cheese anyways, so I was worried about the now lack of food in our house. Huggy had eaten most of it last night except the cheese that Doc had called dibs on for later and I'm sure Mum wouldn't be pleased to know that the last of our food supply was completely empty.

Sighing heavily, I turned to Becky, "Well, I suppose we're out of food so if you want to head home now, it's probably your only chance at a decent breakfast."

"No way you two," both our heads snapped back to Doc, "Word Girl going anywhere would be like an invitation for Poison Ivy to attack. She may not know that Word Girl's here now but I can tell you with absolute confidence that Poison is tracking your movements kiddo. So, if you walk out that door, you're leaving the one place that you're safe."

"Well, wouldn't she be able to tell that I'm here right now?"

Doc grinned wickedly, "Not if her signal is blocked from this house!"

Mental facepalm, how obvious had that been? I picked up for Doc, "You can't leave Word Girl anyways because then she'll find out your secret identity and, well, then you're doomed basically."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"Well, it's true," I retorted, smirking.

"Alright, alright you two; enough bickering. We've got bigger fish to fry," he then pulled out a sheet of paper from the pocket of his lab coat.

"What's that?"

"This," he said, gesturing to the list in front of him, "is the names of all the villains that have agreed to join our cause."

I read over the different names; Granny May, Birthday Girl, Ms. Question, Victoria, Energy Monster, Mr. Big and Leslie, and the other minor villains. I noticed several missing though and commented on them, "What about Chuck, Whammer, Coach, and the Butcher? Did they not want to join?"

"No, someone beat us to the punch with them."

"Who?"

"Who do you think Word Girl?" Two Brains asked, pretending to conk her head, "Poison Ivy of course, she has hypnotizing powers but luckily I tipped the other villains off before she got to them. Anyways, I was going to hold a strategy meeting near the end of the week but obviously, we're going to have to move up the date and we're going to have to hold it here…"

"Hold what here?"

All three of our heads swivelled around to meet the suspicious face of Mum herself. She had obviously showered because her golden hair was still slightly wet and tumbled down halfway down her back, slightly curly at the end. Only on rare occasion did I get to see the relaxed Mum; she usually had her hair wound up tight in a bun and a navy blue business suit very once and a while, she let down her hair and went from prim and proper to relaxed with jeans and a t-shirt.

I swear I almost giggled when I caught sight of Doc's face. His mouth hung open limply as he stared thunderstruck at my mother who in turn just stared at him suspiciously. It was quite funny really that Doc was gaping over the woman who'd sent him to jail on frequent occasions. But I didn't really blame him for staring; Mum was quite attractive when she let down her hair down a bit and wore a smile instead of a frown.

"Hold what here?" Mum repeated, hands on her hips and awaiting an answer.

Doc seemed to have finally gained control of his voice and answered, "Oh, good morning Claire; I was just explaining that the villains that have joined us will have to meet up with us for a strategy meeting. And I thought that since we were here I could…," he trailed off after sensing the anger exuding from Mum.

Her voice was deadly quiet when she spoke again, "You are planning to fill my house with the most reckless and dangerous villains in this city?"

Doc looked extremely uncomfortable, "Well, I guess I just thought-."

"Mum, we have to hold it here," I cut in after seeing Doc's loss of words, "We need to plan out our strategies with the villains and Word Girl can't go anywhere anyways. It has to be here."

I took a few steps closer to Mum until I was tilting my head up to gaze into her teal eyes, "Don't worry Mum, we'll keep them under control. Besides, most of them are dead scared of you anyways."

"True enough," Mum agreed with a defeated sigh, "Fine, I suppose I don't have much of a choice anyways. I guess I'll go grocery shopping now before they all get here, since we _unfortunately_ ran out of food."

Huggy and Doc shrugged sheepishly while Mum just rolled her eyes and went to go fetch her coat muttering something about ridiculous monkeys. Doc jumped up from his seat and raced after Mum saying, "Wait Claire, I'll come with you."

She turned to look at him suspiciously," Why?"

His cheeks flushed pink, "Well you know, we could talk about the meeting this afternoon and stuff and I could keep you company?"

She contemplated him for a moment longer before finally saying, "You better be in the car in a minute flat, Mouse Brains, or I'm leaving without you."

0o0o0o0

After the two adults had left, Word Girl and I had made our way into the living room and we were astounded with the mess we were met with. Blueprints littered the floor along with scattered, oil-stained tools, and scrap metal parts. The hard wood floor wasn't even visible under all the mess and the couches were equally as covered with garbage.

"How the heck did we miss this last night?" I asked Word Girl who looked just as surprised.

"I guess we must have been really, **really**, tired last night."

"Guess so," I agreed, while getting on my hands and knees to begin sweeping up the scattered mess.

A moment later, Huggy and Word Girl had joined me on the floor and we worked in a whirlwind, clearing the floor of the all the remnants of yesterday's project. All the blueprints were thrown to Huggy who stacked them neatly in the corner to be rolled up later while Word Girl and I contented ourselves with returning the scattered tools to their proper tool boxes.

"No, no, no; that's Doc's wrench not mine," I corrected Word Girl for the tenth time.

She let out a frustrated sigh, "Why don't you just put them away? You're the "genius" here anyways."

I had to duck to keep my head from getting hit with the flying wrench and I couldn't help but grin and answer, "Glad to see you've finally admitted it."

"Admitted what?"

"That I'm a genius," I told her cheekily while tossing the tool into Doc's cheese colored tool box.

"You're impossible," she muttered, turning away from me to collect the stray pieces of metal.

I chuckled and continued with my clean up and in only another 10 minutes we'd restored the room back to its original state. Wiping my hands off in a satisfied gesture, I turned to say something to Becky but I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from laughing.

Becky's once immaculate superhero suit was now streaked with oil from crawling on the floor and was equally covered in dust as was her dark hair. And she didn't even notice!

"What?" She asked after I started shaking with laughter.

"Y-your s-suit," I managed to say before I fell back on the couch, laughing right along side Huggy.

She glanced down and let out a small gasp as she took in how dirty she was. Her gloved hand went to her hair and confirmed her fears before she said, "Well, thanks for being so nice about it you guys."

When I got a hold of myself I asked finally, "So, do you want to take me up on my shower offer?"

"Yeah, I don't have much of a choice at this point," she said, still shaking her head at the mess.

"And while you're in there, I'll just run your suit through the washer," I told her while she transformed to her Becky outfit.

She nodded slowly then cautiously handed me the bright article of clothing along with her burgundy helmet. Huggy squeaked indignantly before Becky giggled and said, "Huggy's wondering why you didn't offer to clean his suit."

I rolled my eyes before exuberantly bowing to Huggy and asking way over dramatically, "Huggy, would do me the honour of letting my wash your incredibly important suit?"

He narrowed his eyes at my obvious sarcasm but nevertheless, shed his suit and handed it to me to wash as well. And just to add a little more I called as they headed up the stairs, "And feel free to take a bath to maintain your 'masterpiece' of a haircut."

He squeaked resentfully once more before they disappeared upstairs. I made my way to the laundry room and quickly tossed the two outfits into the washing machine, thankful that I had agreed to let Mum teach me how to work the two machines. Hopefully, they'd be done before Doc and Mum got home.

Before I shut the laundry room door, I heard Becky call from upstairs, "Tobey?"

"Yeah?"

"Ummm, could you maybe wash my other clothes as well? They're pretty battered from last night as well," she asked, sounding distinctly uncomfortable.

"Sure, just toss them down," I told her and a moment later my arms were full once again and I tried to ignore the fact that I was now in possession of my crush's only available clothes. The mischievous part of my brain told me to take advantage of the situation and turn them all pink or something but I shook my head at that.

"What's wrong with you Tobey?" I muttered to myself as I tossed the extra clothes in with the load.

I made my own way upstairs and dug out a housecoat for Becky to use and dropped it off before heading back downstairs to begin calling up the villains who would be coming tonight. This was going to take a long time…

0o0o0o0

By the time I'd made my way down the list of villains, the dryer had finally beeped, signalling that the clothes were dry. After I had scooped up the fluffy, warm clothes I quickly jogged up the stairs and knocked twice on the bathroom door. Becky opened the door a notch, just enough for me to catch a glimpse of her dark, slender legs peeking out from underneath the plain blue housecoat. I hastily handed her, her now dry, clean clothes and glued my eyes to the floor as I hurried down the staircase once more. Now I understood why teens didn't do each other's laundry; too many awkward moments.

A minute later, I was joined by Huggy who was freshly bathed and groomed and smelled suspiciously like Mum's peach shampoo. He flopped down on the couch beside me, gave a content squeak, and fell asleep almost immediately. I could never understand how he could do that; maybe all monkeys could, or perhaps just monkey pilots from the planet Lexicon. Whatever the case, I felt envious, thinking of all the nights I'd spent tossing and turning for hours, trying desperately to fall asleep.

My thoughts were interrupted a moment later by Becky herself as she waltzed into the room, decked out in her, now, bright and shining superhero outfit. She flung herself onto the couch, minding Huggy, and landing with a soft thump beside me.

"You know what I thought of while I was getting ready?"

"No, what?" I asked, turning to face her.

She sighed, "What am I going to tell my family? I mean, they know that I stayed over here last night but if I can't leave your house, what am I going to tell them? They find it odd already that I've been spending so much time with you but if I don't go home for another day? What are they going to think?"

I hadn't actually given it much thought but now that she'd brought it up; I actually didn't really know what to say. I mean, let's face it; Becky and I have never liked each other and then all of a sudden a week ago we just became magically friends? Yeah, I think that'd be a little hard to swallow.

I looked over again at Becky's worried face but still couldn't rack through my brain and find anything plausible that could solve our problem. Word Girl slumping her head on my shoulder wrenched me out of my thoughts and I cautiously swung an arm around her shoulders before pulling her closer. She let out a sigh and snuggled closer but a moment later we had broken apart at the sound of Mum's car pulling up on the driveway.

I jogged over to the door and swung it open and was greeted with Mum with her arms full of groceries.

"Help me with these, will you Tobey?" She told me, handing me several bags full to the brim with food.

Word Girl rushed over to help and in no time we'd gotten all the food to the kitchen. While I started putting the fruit away, I noticed something and asked, "Mum? Where's Doc?"

She let out a frustrated breath, "He's coming with the rest of his cheese. You would not believe how ballistic he went when we reached the dairy section. I had to hold him back from inhaling the entire cheese section; it was positively mortifying."

"Someone mention me?" Doc had finally stumbled through the open door, his arms full with all sorts of cheese.

I chuckled after hearing Mum curse under her breath, turn to the fridge, and begin putting the rest of the produce away with perhaps a little more force than necessary. Doc seemed just as ignorant as ever though, and threw himself on the couch, nibbling away at a piece of cheese. But a second later I'm sure he regretted it because a loud smack resounded through the room as Mum slapped Doc on the back of the head. Ouch….Mum did have a pretty hard slap.

"What did you do that for?!" Doc demanded, rubbing the back of his sore head.

"If you're going to be staying here for the next few days 'Doc' you're going to have to pull your own weight, control your insane cheese urges, and not lay around letting the rest of us do all the work," Mum looked crazy upset, hands on her hips, and smoke practically pouring out of her ears.

When Mum got mad, watch out! If people thought I went on tirades when I was upset (which I did use to do) you should see Mum. She may not destroy the entire city, but the anger exuding from her is enough to scare any grown man out of his wits. Which was exactly what was happening to doc right now, he was almost trembling under Mum's gaze while nodding fervently.

"Good," Mum muttered, pulling him by the arm, "I'm not trying to mean but honestly Mouse Brains, you've been insufferable for the last few hours. If you could just show a little more of your human side the rest of the week will pass over a lot smoother. You're not bad company when you try; you just have to put in a little effort."

I motioned to Becky and we both left the room silently, leaving the adults to settle out their differences.

"Do you think they'll make out okay?" Becky asked after we'd left.

"Oh, I'm sure they'll be fine; after all, they're both geniuses. They'll figure it out eventually," I told her with confidence.

"Alright then, what do we do now?"

"I suppose we just enjoy our last few carefree hours, the villains will be arriving soon."

"Oh, goodie…."

**I know the laundry scene was totally awkward but I just couldn't help myself, and yes, I know that that would never happen but what are fan fics for, right?**

**Read and Review please!**


	8. Something There

**Author's Note:**** Hey guys! So, once again, I felt like stretching out the time before the actual battle because, like I've said before, I loathe writing battle scenes! So, here's the strategy meeting I promised with the villains. I did my best to include most of them to provide a difference in dialogue, even if it was only for a few paragraphs. **

**Anyways, read and review! Battle chapter coming up...eventually. Yeah, I'll try this week but I'm not making any promises because school and other projects are clogging up my free time and the fact that I'm a little lazy contributes to that. XD**

**Disclaimer/ It feels like I just wrote this; I own nothing!**

At around 2:00, the villains began to show up the first being Mr. Big and Leslie. Mum had retreated to her room where (I suppose) she was distracting herself from the fact that our normally immaculate home was going to be invaded by more than half of the criminals she'd filed away at one point or another. Becky and I had finally called her parents to let know where she was and I guess her little brother (TJ, I think?) was so excited at the loss of Becky that her parents had been so busy with him that they hadn't really paid attention to our less than convincing excuse. In any case, Becky had gotten that off her chest and seemed a fair bit happier which was nice.

The kid villains appeared next followed by the minor villains and finally Granny May showed up using the excuse that her "frail old legs had trouble with the long walk".

Whatever.

Once Doc and I had rallied them into the living room, I began the meeting, "So, as you all know we're all here today to discuss strategies against and possible weaknesses of Poison Ivy."

"Why are we fighting against one of our fellow villains?" Mr. Big questioned from his place on the couch.

"Well, because she's threatened to do in Word Girl and if she gets control of the city, she'll treat all of us villains the same as everyone else. We'll all be her slaves."

There was a pause of chatter after that; silence hung in the air as they took in what I was saying. It was really harsh in the end but that's exactly what she planned on doing and if everyone was going to help us, we needed them to be completely convinced and willing to battle Poison Ivy.

No more questions concerning that matter arose afterwards and I continued on with our plans, oblivious to Becky who had stepped out nervously from the other room.

"So, from what we know, we have discerned that Poison Ivy's headquarters is…," I trailed after seeing the villains distraction.

Turning myself to where they were looking, I watched Word Girl fiddle with her belt nervously while glancing up at the villain population in front of her who gazed at her with a mixture of emotions.

I cleared my throat in order to regain some attention and motioned for Becky to join me next to the whiteboard, "So, as you already know, the leader of cause is none other than Word Girl. So, why don't you tell us a little about we're going to be doing for the next few days."

She looked a little flushed, probably from being in the presence in of her lifelong enemies who were all gazing at her expectantly. Her eyes darted around the packed room as she tried to find the words stuck in throat but it seemed the more she tried, the more they got caught.

I saw her dilemma and began to rush over in order to try and help her out but the second I touched her arm, she turned and fled from the room, leaving the rest of us staring after her.

"Umm, I'm sure she's alright, but I'd better go up and check on her. Doc," I motioned him to the front, "why don't you take over while I go up?"

Once he'd nodded for me to leave, I turned on my heel and raced up the stairs, two stairs at a time until I reached the upstairs hallway. After checking the bathroom and the guest bedroom, I cautiously made my way to my cracked open bedroom door where I peered inside only to be greeted with the sight of Becky seated on my bed. Her breath was ragged and both her clad red arms were crossed on her chest while she stared at the floor, her chocolate eyes closed with slight creases in her forehead. I couldn't stop myself; I crept into the room, not wanting to startle her and watched her head snap up as I sat down with a slight creak onto the bed. She stared at me for a moment before throwing her arms around my neck and her head onto my chest.

"Hey, shhhh," I whispered as soothingly as I could, running a hand through her hair and trying to relax her shaking body, "It's alright."

"No it's not," I heard her mumble into my shirt miserably, "They'll think I'm a fool; I can't do it."

"Now come on," I told her, lifting her head from my chest, "Where's the Word Girl that charges into every battle, fearless and strong? Surely if you can dispose of my many robots talking to a few villains should be a piece of cake."

"But it's not!" She told me dejectedly, "What if they all turn on me Tobey? What would happen then?"

So that was why she was nervous! She thought we were all double crossing her and the minute she began to talk, we'd all trap her or something. Now I completely moved her body off mine and reassured her in a firm voice, "Becky, all of these villains are here because they believe that supporting you is the right thing to do. I know they all have some bad qualities but I've known these guys for almost 6 years and I know that none of them would disobey your trust and mine. Maybe if you were in a regular battle they would but not now, they know how serious this is."

But, but...," she struggled to find another argument in her favour but failed and buried her head back into my chest.

"Besides," I told her, running a hand through her dark locks again, "I'm a villain yet you trust me. What's so different about them?"

"You're just….different," she mumbled, struggling to find a way to put her thoughts into words, "I've had more time with you then with them."

"Well, unfortunately time is the one thing we're lacking in right now. Come on," I stood up slowly, lifting Becky with me, her body as limp as a ragdoll, "It's now or never."

"I'd prefer never," she muttered just loud enough for me to hear.

I chuckled but continued pulling her resistant body with me down the staircase, back to where the villains awaited, listening to Doc who was explaining the first stages of our battle plan.

"And at this point," Doc was saying to the attentive villains, "we charge the 14th story building that Poison Ivy has been using as her hideout and…"

He trailed off once we'd entered the room again and stepped aside graciously leaving us to carry on with the plan.

I cleared my throat, "So, after we've made it past these security stations here," I pointed to the outlined square on the whiteboard, "We take the east staircase which will bring us to the top floor where Poison Ivy does most of her planning."

"What then?" Ms. Question asked from her easy chair, "Have you discovered her weakness yet?"

"We've been working on finding it but we haven't been able to uncover anything solid against her. And that's another reason why you've all been asked here; do any of _you_ have an idea of to what her weakness may be?"

Granny May was the first to speak up after a moment of contemplative silence, "This girlie, she controls plants right?"

I nodded, curious as to where she was going with this.

"Well now I may not be an expert on this sort of stuff, but isn't kinda logical that if she can control plants she must be a little like them herself?"

I rolled the idea around my mind, wrapping it around what her question suggested, "So, you're saying that if we look for weaknesses that plants possess, it might also apply for Poison Ivy herself?"

Granny nodded, "It's just a thought ya know but it might work all the same."

I spared a glance at Doc who had that look he took on after making a jaw dropping discovery, his face began to take on a wide, mad grin and his pink eyes became even more pronounced. I could tell his mind was whirling with different possibilities, parallel to my own thoughts. After another few moments, as if planned, all the villains burst into chatter, everyone voicing their different ideas.

"Overdose of water-"

"Weed killer-"

"Sunshine ray!-"

"Guys, guys, GUYS!"

All heads turned to me.

"I know you must all have great ideas but please, we need to do this in an orderly fashion or we won't get anywhere," they all nodded slowly, resuming their seats, "Now, who wants to go first?"

Doc (of course) raised his yellow clad hand and proposed, "Why don't I build a ray that can blast sunshine and disintegrate her?"

"That could work yes, sure, build that and we can use it as a weapon aagainst her. Anyone else?" I asked surveying the room.

Victoria was the next to raise her hand, "I have the BEST idea-"

"Of course you do," I muttered, earning a small chuckle from Becky.

"We can just spray her with those chemicals that people use to kill weeds."

I weighed that option in my mind; it actually could work, "Good idea Victoria."

"Actually, it's the best."

"Right...," I muttered once more.

"Yeah, I like Vicci's idea," added Big left handed guy, "we can just spray her with those...ah...oh, what are those called?"

For the first time since we'd entered the room again, Word Girl spoke, "That would pesticides; a poison used to kill harmful insects or weeds."

"Well, that Poison Ivy sure is a harmful weed in my book," Grany May commented.

"True enough," I agreed, "We could make a substance and find a point in the battle where she's trapped and pour it on her. It'd be important though that we spray her though, not her tentacles; she's the main connecter. If we get her, we get them all."

As the villains chattered between them about the new idea, I stole a glance at Becky who looked surprisingly uncomfortable with the new plan. Moving towards her, I whispered, "What's the matter? Aren't you happy we've found a weakness?"

"Well, yeah, of course. It's just...," she trailed off for a moment, "Those pesticides; they won't hurt her too much, will they?"

"That depends how many parts plant she has inside her; pesticides _are_ meant to kill weeds but I imagine we won't actually be killing her. More like, taking part of her away, making her weak, that sort of thing. I don't really want to kill her anymore than you do," I added.

She looked considerably more at ease with the situation after that so I regained the villain's attention and now directed the spotlight to Becky, "And now, Word Girl's going to tell us a little more about our plan for attack."

Once I was sure she was okay, I moved to the couch next to Doc and listened as she gave her speech on our strategies that we had discussed. I couldn't help but think of how similar my situation had been a few months ago, sitting in that ratty hotel next to Doc listening to strategies being laid out onto the table. Except we were in my living room, with Word Girl (the person we'd been plotting against) giving the speech instead of Granny May. My mind began to drift from Becky's articulate, sweet voice to what the next few days would bring and before I knew it, my eyes had begun to itch, eager to be closed from the lack of sleep the night before. With a barely concealed yawn, my teal eyes fluttered closed and my dreams turned to battling a giant green weed with a tub of ugly pesticides...

0o0o0o0

"Tobey, Tobey come on wake up; it's time for dinner."

"Huh?" I asked groggily, my eyes slowly opening and focusing in on the Becky's cheerful face.

"You better get up sleeping beauty if you want any dinner," she told me teasingly, shoving my thick glasses up my nose and yanking me by the arm.

I let her pull me up, my size being no problem for her thanks to her handy super strength, and asked sleepily, "How long was I asleep?"

"You do the math Einstein, I'm hungry," she replied, wrenching me into the kitchen where Mum and Doc already sat, looking at me with amused expressions.

"Had a pleasant sleep sweetheart?" Mum asked teasingly as she began serving out dinner (potatoes, carrots, beans, and meatloaf, YUM!).

"Yeah," I told her, yawning in the process, "How long was I..?

"Around three hours; you drifted off when Word Girl started explaining our new strategies. The villains found it pretty amusing; we had to stop them from drawing a moustache on you, with permanent marker," Doc told me, while munching away at his cheese flavoured potatoes Mum had whipped up for him.

"Although the offer was rather tempting," commented Word Girl, looking at me as if picturing my face covered with a thick, curly moustache.

"Well, thank you both for being so considerate of my feelings," I remarked, sarcasm dripping from my words.

"Oh, we didn't do it for you; we just thought that Claire would murder us for vandalizing your face with permanent marker," Doc explained.

"Gee, you guys are nice," I told them while watching Huggy laugh uncontrollably at my expense.

"Well, it was your fault for falling asleep in the first place Tobey," Word Girl told me accusingly, "And just when I'd begun to talk too. Am I that boring?"

"Well, no, but we've already gone over those strategies a million bazillion times so it's not like it was new to me."

"Still," she replied, "On a completely different note, thanks for dinner Mrs. McCallister; everything's delicious."

"No problem; it's nice to be able to cook for more than just Tobey and myself again. We almost never have company over so I don't get a lot of chances to make a full out meal," Mum replied.

"Why don't you have company a lot? Your cooking is fantastic," asked Word Girl curiously.

"Well, I've never been a real people person and with Tobey's reputation around the city….well, let's just say that people aren't really clamouring to visit us," she told us, perhaps with a hint of sadness.

I felt a little bad; I certainly hadn't made it easy on my Mum in the past few years. My reputation as a villain in Fair City had made it extremely difficult for Mum to find friends; Sally Botsford had been a rare case. She not only had been friendly with Mum but she'd also looked past my reputation and rudeness and attempted to form a friendship between Becky and I. Now, as I looked back, I kind of wished I'd given the friendship a shot but at least I was friends with Becky now. That was all that mattered in my book.

"Well, you can invite me over any time Claire," Doc said between bites, "You're cooking's amazing; you don't get home cooked meals like this at the secret hideout. My henchmen are going to be green with envy when I tell them."

"I don't usually, oh what would the law call it?" Mum asked rhetorically, tapping her chin, "Oh, right 'fraternizing with the enemy' but maybe sometime I could meet those two henchmen of yours. I'm sure they wouldn't say no to home cooked meal."

"Really?!" Doc asked excitedly, like a child on Christmas, "You'd let us come over?"

"That, or I'd swing around your 'hideout' in the ancient warehouse on the outskirts of town."

Doc's eyes swept over Becky and I before he asked wearily, "Does everyone know where my hideout is now?"

We all glanced at each other before nodding, "Pretty much."

His head slumped onto one of his rubber clad hands, "Why do I even try…," he muttered to himself.

We all laughed, "Come on Doc, at least your not in the phone book like me."

"True enough," he consented, "Ah well, wonderful dinner Claire. I suppose I'll be heading back to my 'hideout," he air quoted the words, "although it is going to be mighty quiet there."

"Why? Are your henchmen normally quiet?" Word Girl asked curiously as we dropped off our dishes in the sink.

"No, I didn't want my henchmen to be a part of this battle so I sent them away on vacation for the next two weeks. I just hope when they return, they'll be something worth returning to," he told us with a touch of sadness.

As soon as I glanced at Mum I could see sympathy standing out on her face as she asked, "You sent them away to be safe? Even when they could have helped you?"

"Those two are great Claire, no joke, but I don't want to see them hurt. They're not experienced in battle and….well…..they have a better chance if they're far from Fair City."

She moved closer to him, placed one comforting hand on his arm and led him into the other room saying, "Well, there's no way I'm letting you go back to a hideout where you'll no doubt spend the night all lonely."

"You mean I-I can stay here another night?" He asked cautiously, not wanting to be the victim of a cruel joke.

Mum smile warmly and nodded then told him firmly, "Now you're going to go take a shower, get into clean clothes, and we're going to have a movie night. I'm not spending the last nights before this battle bringing myself down and neither are any of you," she pointed at Becky and I.

And with that, Mum and Doc strolled cheerfully out of the room leaving us two teens standing there with big stupid grins on our faces.

I glanced at Becky before saying, "They don't even realize that they like each other do they?"

She grinned back, "I don't think so."

We started out of the room while I remarked, "Maybe we should all start frolicking about singing "Something There", do you think then they'd notice?"

"Oh my gosh, I don't think we have to resort to _Beauty and the_ _Beast_ songs quite yet Tobey. But we better keep it in mind all the same," she told me teasingly before floating up the stairs and slipping into my bedroom, closely followed by Huggy.

I let out a short laugh to myself, "_Beauty and the Beast _indeed…"

0o0o0o0

That night we ended up popping popcorn, turning off all the lights, and watching Disney's _Beauty and the Beast._ Becky and I burst out laughing when Mum had proposed that particular movie (much to their confusion) and we must've been the strangest group of people ever to watch that movie. Two genius supervillains, one district attorney, and an alien and her monkey pilot from the planet Lexicon.

After the film had ended, we'd all stumbled groggily to our rooms where we all fell asleep worry free with the joyous songs of Belle and the Beast replaying themselves in our minds…


	9. The Battle

**Author's Note:**** Hey Guys! So, I know I didn't update last week but like I said, battle scenes are super hard for me to write so that's why it took double the normal amount of time to write this week's chapter. That's right, I finally did the battle! Well...technically, I only did half, but still, at least I started! XD **

**Anyways, hope you enjoy it and please forgive any minor spelling mistakes I may have made; it's late and I'm exhausted from a great day at school. (We had a band performance and OH MY GOSH, IT WAS AMAZINGLY FUN!) **

**Disclaimer/ I own nthing (like usual...)**

The next day was a blur of activity and I can't honestly say that I remember everything that happened. Our morning was rushed; breakfast, laundry, and last minute plans for Word Girl's suit happened before our focus for the afternoon turned to fabricating our ultimate weapon: pesticides. Doc had never made this type of chemical but thanks to Google, we managed to whip some together. Adding of course our own strengthening ingredients to make it extra powerful.

Coming by a few of those chemicals though was a little tricky but thankfully, Mum was willing to run out to a few different stores to pick them up. Well, she was willing after I'd promised to bake my famous triple layer chocolate cake after this blew over. Oh, the influence of baked goods!

After we'd condensed our pesticides into the ray gun we would use to spray Poison Ivy (Doc's handy work of course), the conclusion of our day was spent tuning up and improving my robot army. Doc added many more weapons, making my robots almost invincible.

Almost.

Poison Ivy still had her hypnotizing powers which no doubt could jam up the gears, re-programming them to do her will. Victoria had proven that one flaw in my robots all those years ago on Valentines Day when she'd hypnotized them to chase her. Apparently, she'd wanted to prove her superiority over Word Girl by being the BEST superhero. How she'd thought she'd achieve that by almost being crushed under my automatons colossal feet is a mystery to me.

In any case, Becky and I had wound up downstairs after dinner had finished; the adults and Huggy had ended up watching another movie. They'd invited us to join them ( I think Mum just wanted us to take our minds over what lay ahead for tomorrow) but we'd declined, saying we'd rather do something else.

We'd found the "Princess Trianna and the Ogre of Castlebum" book that we'd both been obsessed with a few years back which led to us having a full out reminiscing session.

"Do you remember," Word Girl had been saying through her fits of giggles, "that one time your Mom was out of town and you'd come to destroy the city and we ended up having that game of 'Crash or Pie'?"

Laughing at the ridiculous memory, I replied, "Yeah; I snuck out of the house from that ridiculous babysitter. Would you believe that when I came home after Mum grounded me; I listened to the tape of what had gone on while I was gone and that babysitter talked to the hologram of me the entire time!"

"Well, I can believe it," replied Becky, still giggling, "I was only on the phone with her for maybe a minute and it felt like we had an hour long conversation, that was very one sided, believe me."

"But I still don't regret sneaking out that time while Mum was gone; I thought playing Crash or Pie was rather fun," I hesitated, before asking, "D-did you find it fun?"

Becky gazed at the navy couch looking contemplative and lost in thought for a few moments, tracing light circles on my pant leg. Finally, she answered slowly, "Well, at the time I was mostly annoyed at you for making me play that game….and you were always cheating," she said, punching my arm lightly, "But it was fun to be challenged intellectually. I mean, when I fight the Butcher or Granny May, it's almost always a test of my speed or strength. It was never really hard on my brain, ya know? I guess I enjoyed being challenged by someone who actually had a smidge of a chance at beating me."

"So true, so true- wait, what? What do you mean '_had a smidge of a chance at beating me_"? I could've beaten you," I claimed smugly.

"Right, Tobey, right…," she replied, giggling, "Just like "unsmall" means enormous?"

I blushed a dark pink, "Come on, that wasn't my fault; you've got to admit that I did last a pretty long time in that lightning round for a 10-year old without vocabulary superpowers."

"Yeah, I guess so," she consented, an enormous yawn interrupting her train of thought.

"You tired?" I asked the obvious.

She nodded sleepily, her head nodding to the side as her eyes began to droop.

I sighed fondly, gathering her limp body into my arms and covering us both with a well worn quilt. As she snuggled in closer to me, my own eyes began to droop, her steady breathing lulling me to sleep until finally my blue eyes fluttered all the way shut…

0o0o0o0

The next morning as my eyes began to groggily open; I found that my arms had an unordinary amount of weight in them. I almost opened them to drop whatever it was that I'd been holding before I remembered with a jolt that that weight was Becky.

She hadn't noticed anything, though, and unconsciously snuggled her head deeper into my chest with a content sigh. She had a faint smile playing on her lips and I found myself wondering what she was dreaming about.

_Probably me with a permanent marker moustache_, I thought amusedly, while I ran my hand through her hair subconsciously, it seemed that had become a natural thing for me to do these days.

I gazed at her peaceful expression once more before deciding to let her sleep for a little while longer. After all, today was going to be anything but pleasant. My thoughts began to wander and play the dangerous _What If?_ game, millions of scenarios playing themselves out in my mind. Would we beat Poison Ivy? After all, she had hypnotizing powers that far surpassed those of even Victoria, the power to control plants strong enough to snap a human body in half, and on top of all that, she held in her hand 4 of our major villains all hypnotized to obey her command.

But we had Word Girl; I had to keep reminding myself of that. Good always wins, right? Besides, Word Girl was strong, had super speed, and a knack for getting herself out of (as well as into, though) sticky situations. If anyone was a sure leader, it was her.

But as I looked down at her again, I was reminded that she was only a fifteen year-old kid like me. I'd never really given it much thought before but now that I knew exactly who Becky was, I couldn't help but feel a sorry for her. Most people would wish for superpowers, to be admired by everyone but at the same time, imagine all the things she had to go through. She had enemies even that this young an age, enemies that she had to face day in and day out, making sure to right their wrongs. Was it right to put that kind of pressure onto just a kid? After looking back onto this city's perspective, they loved Word Girl sure but could just as easily replace her with someone else as soon as Word Girl did one thing wrong.

I remembered the fad that Mr. Big had created with Tiny Big and how everyone had turned their backs on Word Girl the minute he came onto the stage with his "fancy moves" and fake voice. Or the time Granny May accused Word Girl of pushing her around and everyone went completely anti- Word Girl except for a few including myself, her father and brother. Sure, no one ever knew but I'd never believed Granny May's little ruse; Word Girl would never push someone around, even villains.

The citizens of this city claimed that they love Word Girl but I couldn't help but ever wonder if that was true. They wouldn't hesitate to replace or turn away from Word Girl if someone supposedly better came into the picture. Was that love? I didn't think so. In a way, it was almost like the villains cared more for Word Girl than most of the people she saved. I mean, of course they held some grudges on her for sending them to jail, but as I thought about all the names on Doc's list, it truly showed that these villains cared for their nemesis.

And how could you not; Word Girl was kind, funny, caring, patient (most of the time), and overall just so cheerful and upbeat all the time. How could anyone hold a grudge too long on someone as sweet as Becky? I know even I couldn't; it may have looked like I had but I suppose it just gave me an opportunity to see her more if I claimed to be trying to defeat her.

A small yawn pulled me out of my thoughts and I looked down at Becky's droopy eyes slowly fluttering open. Once she caught sight of me, a smile graced her lips and she murmured, "Good morning Tobey."

"Good morning sunshine," I retorted teasingly, twirling a strand of her hair around my finger.

Another yawn overtook her before she asked drowsily, "What time is it?"

"7:30; you wanna go get some breakfast with me?"

"Not really but I will," she replied, climbing out from underneath the warmth of the blanket before diving straight back under, "Never mind; there's no way I'm going out there. Way too cold."

"Come on," I coaxed, removing the blanket slowly, "It's not that bad."

"If you want me to go upstairs, you're going to have to carry me," she told me stubbornly, refusing to move off the couch.

I smirked, did she not know that I'd carry whether she forced me to or not? I mean, I wasn't the strongest of guys but if she gave me an opportunity to hold her in my arms; I was going to take it.

So, much to Becky's surprise, I leant down and scooped her well rested body into my arms and began to carrying her up the stairs. Her cries of protest fell on my deaf ears, eventually silenced by Becky's frustrated sigh of defeat as we reached the top of the stairs.

I set her down gently onto one of the kitchen chairs before proceeding to whip together some of my famous blueberry pancakes, also setting aside some batter tinted with cheddar cheese for Doc. Becky floated up behind me, literally, on the ceiling, watching me with awe as my hands moved efficiently with the ingredients, mixing them together rapidly to make the batter. I didn't actually realize she was there until she commented from up above, "How did you ever get to be so great with your hands?"

I looked to both my sides before slowly looking upwards at her graceful form still in her clothes from the previous day.

"I don't really know," I replied, warming up the stove and retrieving the frying pan, "Mum says I've always been that way since the day she bought me one of those baby toys where, you know, you put all the different blocks into the different holes?"

"Oh, I had one of those too."

"Yeah, so you know how it usually takes babies like forever to put it together?"

She nodded, "Let me guess; it didn't take you forever?"

"Mum says I put every single block in the right spot on the first try. Ever since, she's been encouraging me to get involved in tings that require handiwork. But I think she kind of got to a road block when she introduced me to robots," I joked, listening to the sizzling pancakes, bubbling pleasantly on the pan.

"What were the other things you did before robots?" Becky asked curiously, turning herself upside so her feet were on the ceiling and her face in front of mine.

"Well, there were few things actually," I told her, dodging her head to flip the pancakes, "I did a lot of wood working, building stuff, you know; I did cooking, which, as you can tell, I still do now. I did a few other things but those two I really remember. I think I only took one cooking class before I refused to go again."

"Why?"

I poured the next batch onto the pan, flipping the golden ones onto a waiting plate, "I wanted to experiment, figure things out for myself. But they were all like "follow the book" and I didn't want to. They wouldn't let you try anything new. They're logo was something like "be creative" or whatever and yet they wouldn't let me do anything that wasn't in their little hand book."

"Someone making pancakes?" Came Doc's scratchy voice from the hallway as he entered the sunny kitchen.

I tossed him a plate of cheese pancakes which he began to nibble on gratefully, making his way to the table. Shortly after, Mum also strolled in, still decked out in her plum housecoat.

"Yum, Tobey those smell delicious," she remarked, grabbing a plateful for herself and sitting down next to Doc, reading the morning newspaper.

"They done yet Tobey?" Asked Becky, finally coming to stand on the floor beside me, eyeing the sizzling pancakes hungrily.

"Yup, all done," I replied, turning off the stove and placing the rest of the pancakes onto the table for everyone.

After a few minutes of content silence filled only with the sounds of bites of food, Mum finally cleared her throat, "Alright, I hate more than anyone to bring this up, but today's the day."

None of us said anything so she continued, "Poison Ivy is planning to attack in less than two hours so I suggest that we all get dressed for battle and meet with the other villains ASAP."

We all nodded and disappeared to get ready, all of our minds occupied of the anxiety of what was going to come…

0o0o0o0

An hour half later after countless pep talks and last minute adjustments, all the villains arrived at our meet up point. Becky and I would head to Poison Ivy's hideout, separately of course, and while I would meet up with her, Word Girl would wait for my signal before she and the other villains charged the building.

I was nervous to say the least, but attempted not to show it. I needed to appear confident for the others, although on the inside my once butterflies had transformed into a herd of stampeding rhinos.

"It's time to head out," Becky told me, anxiousness lacing her voice, "You be careful out there, okay."

I nodded, swallowing the lump in my throat and giving her one last hug before a familiar hand turned me around and I met Mum's frightened face. I threw my arms around her neck, wishing I never had to let go, and she returned it just as desperately. Once we'd parted, she leant down to kiss my forehead before she simply nodded for me to go, her fear making her unable to form any actual words.

I kissed her cheek before I turned, climbed onto one of my super robots, and waved a good bye to the villains standing down below, their usual stony faces filled with fear and edginess. The kind of look people got when they didn't know if you'd make it back alive.

0o0o0o0

I focused on nothing but the familiar mechanical sound of the robots massive feet pounding the cement, knowing that if I gave into my thoughts I'd never go through with the crazy thing I was about to do. An unfamiliar uneasiness surrounded me as I paraded through the gray city as I'd done so many times before. Perhaps I was simply paranoid but I couldn't help but help but expect someone to come soaring out of the sky, knocking me off my robot, like Poison Ivy had discovered my identity. I swore right then I'd never put myself intentionally into a situation where I'd be required to become a double agent again; I couldn't handle the paranoia for another day. Thankfully, I wouldn't have to.

Far too soon, my robots army and I had reached our destination, Poison Ivy's hideout in an enormous 14th floor building, covered with her signature green and black vines.

So much for subtle.

Knowing the top floor was where she wanted to rendezvous, I had my current robots lift me to the window where I knocked tentatively.

Almost instantly, Poison Ivy unbarred the window and pulled me into the control room that was covered in monitors that showed almost every spot in the city. I didn't have any other time to examine the room because Poison Ivy had begun speaking, "Good Tobey; you're finally here. I was beginning to think you wouldn't show up."

I gulped nervously but tried my best to flash a positive smile her way, "Of, course I came."

"Good…," she crooned, running one gloved hand through my hair, "Now we must wait no longer to take over this pitiful city. You have the remote ready?"

I nodded, holding up the metal button covered box, the light balanced on the end ready to begin blinking.

Without another word, all four of the hypnotized villains were summoned into the room and I was met with the familiar but at the same time unordinary faces of Butcher, Chuck, Coach, and the Whammer. Their usually happy but mischievous faces now held a stony expression and their eyes all swirled with a mist of green the evidence of Poison Ivy's hypnotizing work.

"My faithful followers," I felt my anger boil at the implication, "It's time for us to take this city into our grasp. Once Tobey has disposed of that pesky superhero, there will be nothing to stand in our way of complete domination."

She nodded to me to leave; it was time.

0o0o0o0

Poison Ivy led me outside the building and I climbed on top of my lead robot, surveying the city, searching for any sign of Becky. As my eyes roamed from left to right, I finally caught a glimpse of red, streaking towards a nearby building and landing neatly on top, accompanied by Huggy. She turned and faced me suspiciously, playing her part to perfection, before demanding, "What are you doing here Tobey? I haven't seen you for almost a month."

"Ah, my dear Word Girl, how nice of you to show up. Too bad this little meeting will be our last," I told her mischievously but not over-dramatically; we needed to keep it up only a while longer.

Becky's face looked weary; I'd recited this speech far too many times for her to take it seriously. She rolled her eyes before scooping Huggy into her arms, zipping into the, preparing herself to launch Huggy at me.

I could see the fear shining out clearly of each of their dark eyes as Word Girl lifted Huggy over head….slowly….slowly…..and then…..

"NOW!"

Multiple villains leaped from behind the surrounding buildings, battle gear at the ready and determined looks on each of their faces. At the push of one of my buttons; my army robots had turned to face Poison Ivy's murderous face that had emerged from the building.

"TRAITOR," she yelled furiously as she began moving towards me, "YOU LYING, CHEATING, STUPID-"

"Don't you dare talk to him like that!" Word Girl shouted, enraged, "Your fight is with me!"

Her fuming face changed suddenly, a ruthless smile twisted Poison Ivy's lips as she continued walking suspended in the air, sickly green tentacles holding up her weight, "As you wish," she whispered malevolently.

In a split second, a spindly tendril had snapped itself towards Word Girl, Becky's reflexes barely saving her from having her ankle snagged. She fought back immediately, hurling herself in Poison Ivy's direction, only to feel thin air where she'd once been. Poison Ivy swung overhead, her tentacles making her airborne, a malicious smile glaring mockingly in Word Girl's direction.

Practically growling, Word Girl flew back at light speed, only to be deprived of her target once more. I could decipher from Poison Ivy's mocking face; she was only toying with Becky. It was time to move in.

"Villains!" I called loudly, determination evident in my voice, "NOW!"

Our plan began; Granny May flew towards her, faster than usual due to our upgrades to her suit, distracting Poison Ivy long enough for Doc to aim and fire an enormous ray of sunshine energy at her two bulkiest tendrils. The energy encased them for a moment before Poison Ivy strained and snapped them upwards, launching it towards Granny May who quickly deflected the light off her suit and continued diverting Poison Ivy's attention as Doc and Word Girl persistently pummelled their forces again and again towards Poison Ivy.

With a frustrated yell, Poison Ivy furiously snapped all tentacles at once; the force sending each of the fighters flying. She quickly skated away to a more confined area, giving her tendrils more surface to suspend themselves on, but was quickly overtaken once more by a number of the other villains.

Lady Redundant Woman rapidly created dozens of copies who all began attacking at once, only to be swiped aside easily and transformed back into sheets of paper. Victoria and the Birthday Girl came next, Victoria held securely in Eileen's hands, but Poison Ivy's own laser vision deflected that of Victoria's. The impact sending the two careening back into Mr. Big's mind control device, him and Leslie diving to the side to avoid being crushed.

All other minor villains were having next to no success as well; Ms Question, Timmy Timbo, Big Left Guy, and all others being practically annihilated my Poison Ivy's wrath. They all were being kept at bay by the four hypnotized villains who ruthlessly wheeled their forces to the largest volume possible. Poison Ivy only seemed to get stronger and stronger, despite Word Girl and Doc's many attempts.

_Okay, enough play time, _I thought, a wry smile showing on my face, _I think it's time_ _for a little robot power._

"Robots attack!"

My army marched towards Poison Ivy, one mechanical hand cutting carelessly through a section of tendrils. Poison Ivy hissed in pain before turning to me, her green eyes burning with utter loathing as her vines began growing back swiftly.

_She regenerates, _I realized worriedly.

It was true, every time a tentacle got cut off; another grew back, seemingly just as strong as the previous. Sweat broke out on my brow as I manipulated my remote control furiously, countering her attacks accurately but desperately racking my brain for another possible way to defeat her.

_The vines have got to be connected to something, right?_ I thought frantically, _but if cutting them one by one won't work, maybe we have to go right to the main source of-_

"Tobey! Watch out!"

My eyes reverted back to Poison Ivy right as one tendril wrapped itself around my ankle. She smiled wickedly before jumping from vine to vine towards another building, my foot being pulled from the edge of my robot in the process.

I found myself flying feet towards the sky, pulled along by Poison Ivy with Becky frantically trying to reach me. Fear seeped into every pore of my body as my life flashed before my very eyes.

"Word Girl!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, terrified as another building missed me by mere inches, "Help!"

"I'm coming Tobey!" She yelled back desperately, her hands outstretched.

Poison Ivy suddenly halted on top of her original headquarters building and dangled me threateningly down the middle of the front of the building.

"See if you can save him now, hero," she taunted evilly, her tendril unravelling itself from my ankle, pitching me downwards.

I screamed louder than I'd ever in my entire life until I felt Becky's body crashing into me as she broke my fall, sending us both smashing through the glass windows in the process, microscopic shards of glass hurtling themselves in every direction. We crashed, hard, onto the concrete floor; Word Girl's shaking body on top of mine.

She lifted her head anxiously, staring at me while hauling herself off me, "Are you alright, Tobey?"

I nodded shakily, my near brush with death rattling my brain, "I'm okay, you?"

"I'm good," she replied, her ragged breath telling me otherwise, "I gotta head back out there."

But as she turned to fly out the wall, we both realized in shock that during the few seconds we'd spent on the floor, the wall had sealed itself back up. The windows had vanished leaving behind only a thick steel wall in their place.

Becky began hurtling herself at the wall, determined to break out while I examined with nervous curiosity the rest of the inside. The entire room was composed of thick steel and concrete, identical to that of the floor. There were no doors or any handles of any kind only a weird green glow that threaded around the edge of the ceiling. What kind of room was this?

My attention reverted to Becky as she mercilessly pounded herself against the seemingly unbreakable door again and again, her battered face growing wearier by the second.

"Becky," I called forcefully, "Becky stop, you're hurting yourself."

"No- can't - gotta help – gotta get free," her exhausted voice strangled out.

I grabbed her hand and almost immediately her limp body crashed into my arms. I struggled to hold her aloft before sinking to the floor, holding her close to myself as she attempted to regain her breath. Her chest rose and fell rapidly as silent tears began rolling down her face.

"What's…happening…..to me Tobey?" She rasped.

"You're just tired that's all," I nervously reassured her, stroking her wild hair in a useless effort to calm her.

"No…I feel…..like….my powers….are being….drained," she mumbled scratchily, "I've…never….felt like…this before…"

"Never?" I asked carefully.

"Only one time….when….I was…..attacked with….Lexonite," she managed to get out.

Fear paralysed my mind; the green tinge on the walls…it couldn't be…

Becky let out a tiny shriek before pointing frantically at the edge of the walls with a terrified expression.

"Lexonite!"


	10. The End (I love those two words!)

**Author's Note:**** Hey guys! It's been so freakin' long! I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOO sorry for not updating in, what, 3? 4 weeks? It's just that...well...I kinda lost inspiration for it a little while back and I've been working on it at about a snail's pace. But the last chapter is up and my epilogue should be posted in only a few days 'cause I already have it written up somewhere or other.**

**Anyways, thank you to all my faithful followers and reviewers; you guys are truly awesome for putting up with my procrastination for so long!**

**Disclaimer/ I own nothin'...like usual**

"_Lexonite!"_

Becky's ragged face held absolute terror as she pushed herself desperately against me, as if trying to block the horrible glowing substance from reaching her. My own senses seemed frozen as my mind processed what was happening; we were trapped in a seemingly indestructible room lined with Lexonite, Becky's one weakness.

Well, this was just peachy.

I cupped Becky's face gently, attempting to stay calm; we had to think of a plan to get out of here and I knew perfectly well Becky's brain was short circuited when she was unfocused. Her being scared out of mind wasn't going to help us escape.

"Becky, Becky," I cooed, holding her face in my hands, trying desperately to make eye contact, "It's going to be okay, just look at me. Come on, it's me Tobey; I'll keep you safe."

Her honey brown eyes darted frantically, avoiding my eyes until finally her microscopic, pitch black pupils focused onto my face. Our eyes locked before she launched herself at me once more, burying her face in my chest and choking my neck with her red clad arms.

"TobeynoLexonitenononononocan 'tbe," her words came out as a jumble and I rocked her softly, my mind reeling with what to do.

I gently moved Becky and I to a corner of the giant chamber where I sat with her, not really knowing how to calm her down. I'd never really had to be the good guy before and so having the girl of my dreams sobbing in my arms was something I never thought I'd have to deal with. I mean, I'd helped her a few times when she was upset but she was beyond upset right now. I couldn't even tell if she heard what I was saying or not, it was like her terror of the Lexonite was preventing her from hearing what I was saying.

I kept it up regardless, rocking her back and forth in a futile attempt to calm her shaking body while she sobbed terribly, damping my vest with her overflow of tears.

A few moments later though, her sobs began to soften and I felt relief wash over me as I thought hopefully, _She's going to be okay!_

But logic pushed its way cruelly into my mind and I noticed her breaths becoming deeper, heavier, and more desperate. Her body was becoming limper by the second and I could've sworn she was going to pass out any second. Alarmed, I yanked her head upwards from its limp position, my hands gripping the sides of her face forcefully. Her eyes fluttered half way shut and her face was ever so cold as I desperately tried to shake some life back into her.

"No, no, no, NO!" I yelled, sobs racking body as I hysterically shook her almost lifeless form, my efforts becoming weaker by the second as all reason for trying drained from my body.

"No-," I managed to croak out softly as my strength left and I collapsed, my body draping over Becky's freezing one, my eyes losing all life as I stared at the one person I'd ever really lived for.

There was nothing left; without Becky, life was meaningless. A few final tears leaked out from my dull eyes as my head rested on my love's motionless shoulder before they began to shut. To close forever…

"Take that you cheese hating villain!"

_What the…?_

My eyes snapped open as the familiar scratchy voice faintly made its way through the thick steel surrounding us.

Pulling Becky's limp body upwards with myself, all while brushing my tears from my pale face; I slowly inched towards the source of the voice only to be greeted with the strange sensation of 2 feet thick steel vibrating violently. Forcing my reluctant legs to move, I sprinted, well, more like limped with some speed to the other side of the chamber, clutching Becky to myself.

A second later the entire wall gave way, debris exploding every direction, multiple pieces slicing into my back, all while shielding Becky's body with my own.. The force rang out in my ears viciously, threatening to crush my eardrums, and was so deafening I didn't even register my name being called until one of Doc's rubber clad hands gripped my shoulder. Blue eyes met pink and before I knew it, I was sprinting clumsily to the entrance, Becky's heavy body weighing me down.

Seeing my delay, Doc urgently wrenched Becky from me, his strong but gentle arms facilitating the task. As we approached the exit, sunshine blinded my eyes making me squint and blink wildly, losing sight of Doc as white spots clouded my sight.

My arms swinging randomly, I tried to reach out to Doc and was surprised when a pair of strong arms clasped my waist and heaved me aboard a floating aircraft. My knees gave out under me and I fell to the ground with a thud, concerned murmurs slinking around my numb ears. My heart was beating at a rapid pace as I lay there, too exhausted to move, the tragedy of losing Becky causing my throat to choke up and strangled sobs wracking my shoulders terribly.

My jerky movements startled the row of villains beginning to form in front of my broken form and my red rimmed eyes met the warm ones of the, now, hypnotised-free Butcher. He softly touched my bruised cheek with his own large hand, asking, "Hey kid, you feeliring alright?"

I couldn't answer him, my throat was too choked up to do anything except sob and turn my head in grief.

"Feeliring's not a word…"

My heart stopped at the painstakingly unmistakable weak voice resounding from a few feet away and I felt my brain wake from its grief stricken stupor. Scrambling from my motionless position, I launched myself to where she laid, missing her exhausted body my millimetres.

I leaned in close, my eyes taking in Becky's waking body with unbelievable joy lighting my dull eyes. Her face, while still unnaturally pale and covered with wounds, shone brightly when her eyes met mine and her arms moved slightly, calling for me to hold her.

Indulging her whole-heartedly, my now seemingly full of energy arms looped gently around her limp form and squeezed her to my chest. Tears pooled down my face but I couldn't bring myself to care who saw as I cried harder than I ever had before.

Hearing Becky's scratchy voice laugh quietly, I found myself letting out my own soft laugh. My fingers wove their way into her matted hair and her frail arms curled themselves around my waist, pulling herself closer, if that was physically possible.

For seemed like eternity, we sat there, perfectly content to never move again until Doc reluctantly tapped us both on shoulders, his eyes a little regretful, "Sorry to ruin the mood but we've still got a certain crazed psychopath outside to deal with before she completely destroys our city in rage."

"Right, right…" I said nonchalantly, my mind and eyes still completely focused on Becky in my arms.

The villains rolled their eyes at my all-too-familiar lovesick attitude and slowly pried us apart, our arms reluctant to leave each other. After moaning from the loss, I eventually refocused on our main goal. Taking down Poison Ivy.

That insane woman almost killed Becky! It was time to kick some butt.

0o0o0o0

"Surprised to see me?"

Poison Ivy's smug expression morphed into one of utter shock as she processed my battered but retaliating form. I smirked at her loss for words and willed myself lower so our faces were level; I reached out slowly, her eyes trained on my outstretched hand and….

SMACK!

_A direct hit, _I thought happily my hand stinging pleasantly as I watched her shocked head reeling, trying to process the fact that I, a puny little boy, had just slapped her clear across the face.

A flash later, her burning hatred returned but as her tentacles lashed forward to snap my thin body I was no longer there. Poison green eyes darted angrily in an effort to find me but instead received a swift kick to the shin making her eyes crumple in almost inaudible pain.

Triumphant laughter resounded from my raspy throat as I leaped away once more to the safety of another robot hand. Ignoring her continuous threats and insults, I continued my little escapade, determined to occupy her attention until Becky was strong enough to come out from Doc's dirigible refuge.

I should have been crying out in exhaustion and pain considering the previous events and the shock of pain each time one of Poison Ivy's tentacles lashed out at me but in all honesty, I'd never felt better! My body felt practically weightless as I leaped from hand to hand, dodging and fighting back just as ruthlessly as she. I had no clue where my sudden athletic abilities had come from but I was sure as heck not going question them.

My fists seemed to have a mind of their own as they swung wildly but all aimed at one specific target.

Poison Ivy's retaliating strikes had begun to falter, not by much, but enough for my fried brain to notice the decreasing intensity of her punches. A smirk grew on my pale face as Becky's warning signal reached my ears; a faint bird call whistled my Doc (another one of his unknown talents).

Halting my rapid punches, I gave a startled Poison Ivy a farewell wave and threw myself off the robot hand, confident that one of my many faithful automatons would catch my flying form.

As I landed with a hard thud onto the cool palm of my robot's outstretched hand, I watched in silent awe as Becky flew towards Poison Ivy in a streak of red and gold. Poison Ivy's startled cry was cut short by the sheer force of Becky's attack, sending the two of them plummeting to the ground, the multiple tentacles ripped apart by the intensity of Becky's blow.

Before the pair could reach the ground, Becky sucked in as much air as she could before releasing fully but instead of being the expected warm gust of air, Becky released thousands of tiny (what looked like) water droplets. The tiny drops melded together around Poison Ivy circling her faster and faster, bright lights emitting from the drops until they abruptly halted leaving Poison Ivy still in her tumbling position frozen completely solid and rapidly hurling to the ground. Her poison green eyes screamed for a rescue as the ground approached at an alarming rate.

But being the heroine she was, Becky slowed Poison Ivy's descent just in time to keep her from being a Poison pancake. Gently setting the icy form onto the cracked pavement, exerting a great deal of her withering strength in the process, Becky gazed at the frozen prisoner with a stony expression.

The question remained; what were we going to do with her?

A moment later I had joined Becky on the terrorized street, gently curling one arm around her waist to support her faltering form. She glanced up, a small smile lighting up her beaten face when her eyes met mine, before she turned back to the frozen villain.

"Doc," she called out hoarsely, clearing her voice immediately afterwards after being reminded of the scratchiness of her voice, "Can you bring the pesticide ray please?"

"Sure can kiddo," he replied softly, pride gleaming in his pink eyes like a father praising his daughter.

0o0o0o0o0

An hour later Poison Ivy had been safely transported to the city's prison, her plant and hypnotizing powers subdued from the essence of pesticides that now constantly surrounded her.

After explaining to the police everything Poison Ivy had done as well as my, Doc's, and all the other villain's contributions to defeating her, they'd finally let her go. Becky stumbled towards me, exhaustion catching up to her as the heat of the fight wore off, and completely collapsed in my arms.

Urgent to determine if she was alright, I flipped her head upwards so I could see her face but was greeted with her calming smile that soothed my frantic heart pace. I exhaled slowly, relieved to just be there, holding Becky with nothing trying to hurt either one of us.

I cupped her cheek lovingly and found myself chuckling softly, my head tilting forwards to capture her bruised lips. Our lips met and an enchanting new feeling washed over me as my eyes fluttered shut. It was like millions of fireworks went off in my chest and my brain completely short circuited, blocking out the amused whistles of the surrounding villains and the blaring sirens attached to the cop cars.

Becky gasped quietly when my chaffed lips pressed against her own but slowly returned the kiss, lovingly and gently as if afraid of being so close to me. But regardless of her conflicting emotions, her arms found their way around my neck and her soft fingers embedded themselves into my blond hair.

The touch lasted for only a few moments before Mum's worried cry startled us from our embrace.

"Tobey! Tobey where are you?!"

I gazed once more into Becky's half shut eyes before answering, "Here Mum."

"Oh Tobey," was my only warning before (Becky still in my arms) I was crushed to Mum's chest as she ran her hands through my hair and around my back, checking me instinctively for injuries.

After her worries of any serious physical damage were appeased, she simply held me close to her, her face buried into the crook of my neck as she murmured thanks that I was safe from harm. I enjoyed the feeling being embraced in Mum's warm arms, a feeling that, in the past few years, had grown a little foreign to me. My past activities and…arrests had not really warranted me any special treatment from Mum but it was comforting to know that despite all that, Mum still loved me unconditionally.

A little wriggling snapped me out of my pleasant trance as Becky motioned a need for movement from our rather tight embrace. I laughed and hastily apologized for squeezing her so tight.

"I need to head home Tobey; see TJ and my parents," she told me, her old enthusiasm shining through at the prospect of seeing her family after spending almost a week away from them.

After seeing her off safely in the care of one of my non-damaged robots, I turned back to Mum but to my surprise I found her being hugged fiercely by Doc. Her face split with happiness as they both embraced each other happily, delighting our success.

I thought of Mum, finally happy with someone, Becky and I in (what I guess was) a newfound relationship, heck, I'd even kissed Becky!

_Oh yeah, I could get used to this…_

The End (I freakin' love those two words!)


	11. Epilogue

**Author's Note:**** Hey guys! Here's the epilogue I promised; sorry it's not too long but I think it summed up the story enough. Hope you guys like and I don't know if I'm going to make a new story any time soon because I'm starting a new writing project in the new year. I made up my own original character named Krystal Monique Star and starting on the first day of 2013, I'm going to be writing an entry a day in her perspective. At the end of the new year, I'll have 365 entries all making up Krystal's story. I CAN'T WAIT!**

**Anyways, enjoy! You guys have been awesome reviewers!**

**Disclaimer/ Nothin...just nothin...**

Epilogue

"Tobey! Come down! It's time for cake!"

"Coming Mum!" I yell back, shutting my pen-filled notebook, and let my cramped hands stretch from the hours of writing.

I wrench my bedroom door open, narrowly missing hitting my head on the tad-too-short-for-me door frame, and parade down the stairs. My hand grasps the post of the staircase, securely swinging my lithe teen body around to proceed down the tiled hallway to where Mum stands in the kitchen, hunched over something.

Her skilled fingers are manipulating one silver spoon full to the brim with sticky canned cherries spooned out from a nearby open can. She drops them one by one onto the dark surface of what appears to be my cake before dipping the spoon back into the gooey can to get more. Her golden hair is tied back in its usual bun with wisps of hair persistently falling around her focused face. She's donned a navy blue dress, a similar color to her everyday work outfit, that falls gracefully to her ankles where plain sapphire heels ornate her feet.

When Mum finally acknowledges my presence behind her as I watch her work, my pink tongue licking my upper lip as I eye the cake hungrily, she states, "Honestly Tobey, you've been in your room for hours since this morning! It's your birthday for heaven's sake; you don't turn 16 every day," she tells me, still slathering cherry sauce all over the brown cake.

"What kind of cake is it?" I ask, my mind focused more on the cake itself than what Mum is saying.

"Chocolate cheesecake, what else?" Answers a familiar scratchy voice from the hallway.

Doc strides in, decked out in a classy black tux with his signature purple bowtie hanging snugly around his neck. He swings an arm around Mum and swiftly swiped his finger across the sticky surface, earning a finger full of sticky red sauce.

I roll my eyes at his ever remaining cheese obsession, "How did I not see that one coming?"

I look back at Mum and Doc taking in their classy attire before asking, "You two going out somewhere?

"Well, we'll stay for cake sweetie but we thought that you and Becky might want the house to yourselves tonight. I was going to tell you earlier but you've been in your room almost all day. I mean, I know you're a little anti-social Tobey, but really?" Mum answers, finishing off the cake with one satisfying drip before starting to push in 16 multi colored candles. The tips covered with years of melted wax, I think we've had some of those since I was one.

"Oh I was just writing a little story," I reply nonchalantly.

"What about?" Asks Doc who's eyeing the cake equally as hungrily as me.

"Just about how this all happened," I say, my arms gesturing to nothing in particular but all around, "I'm going to call it, drum roll please, Stay Away From Poison Ivy!"

My arms are wide open and I've got an excited smile on my face but Mum and Doc just glance at each other before looking back at me.

"Stay Away From Poison Ivy?" Mum repeats, "Isn't that a little long?"

My arms slump to my sides, "Thanks for the vote of confidence guys. I'd like to see you come up with a better name."

"Touché," Doc remarks before going back to lick the empty can still gooey with cherry sauce.

The familiar sound of our front doorbell rings throughout house and I rush to greet whoever it may be, a guess already forming in my mind.

"You get it Tobey," says Mum, drying her hands on a towel hanging off the stove before she turns and hits Doc lightly, "Stop that Mouse Brains, you'll get your suit all sticky!"

As my hand swiftly opens the front door I'm greeted with Becky's smiling face. She's dressed semi-formal with a pair of faded flare jeans (she'd begun to realize what relief pants offered compared to skirts), a dark green ruffle top, and a matching headband.

"Hey Becky, come on in," she steps by me, brushing my arm purposefully, "You look great by the way."

"Thanks," she replies before kissing my cheek lightly causing the blood to rush to my cheeks, "Oh, and I got you a present."

She hands me a small silver box elegantly sealed with a silver ribbon before heading into the kitchen with me.

"Hi Claire, Doc; you two look great. You going out?"

"Yup," Doc replies, swinging his arm around Mum's shoulders once more, "I'm taking this little lady for a dirigible ride."

"Apparently," Mum teases, "Doc's a stupendous dancer. He wants to show me his "moves".

Becky and I giggle at the pair before Doc asks impatiently, "Well are we going to eat this cake or not? I'm starving!"

We all take our seats at the circular table, still exchanging laughs and stories while Mum begins to light the 16 candles. The tiny flames cast a pleasant glow on the dark room (the lights extinguished to reinforce the candle's light) and Becky nudges me after a moment of silence.

"Go on Tobey, make a wish."

I dig into my mind, thinking of what I could wish for. I look up, gazing at the three most wonderful people I know, the people who'd become everything to me in the last year.

I look back at the cake and softly blow at the candles, the small gust annihilating all the flames except for one. Becky blushes as she remembers the teasings we were always told when a candle or two was left.

"You have a girlfriend!" Mum would always tell me teasingly making me blush and protest.

This time I was content with that one steady flame.

**Well there you have it! The end of "Stay Away From Poison Ivy" has finally come. As to what Becky got Tobey, well, that's up to you to decide! **


End file.
